BIO4 Project
from 2021 to 2024
Within the wood industry, the transformation of wood into paper (micro-paper industry) occupies a pivotal place in the valorization of cutting co-products. However, this activity has been in decline for several years, particularly in Europe due to a digital transition associated with increasing economic pressure from emerging countries. Thus, the French wood industry, and in particular its paper sector, must today seek to reinvent itself to remain competitive. In this context of need for diversification, Fiber Excellence Saint Gaudens, producer of paper pulp, aims to evolve its factory towards a biorefinery producing dissolving pulp richer in cellulose with high added value.
Partners
Fibre Excellence Saint Gaudens SAS
Arbiom
CNRS
INSA Toulouse
Budget
3 700 k€
Funding agency
ADEME (PIA/DTIGA – Numéro : 2182D0404-D)
Project
Objectives
The aims of this project are :
- Promote each constituent of wood, in particular the sugars of hardwood hemicelluloses (C5) (without degrading the cellulose) by developing eco-efficient processes;
- Structuring the wood sector, from upstream of the sector (optimization of the mobilization of
resource), up to downstream (development of biosourced products for applications in plant chemistry); - Reduce the dependence of the chemical industry on fossil resources by promoting a biosourced raw material;
- Develop the activities of the Saint-Gaudens site by positioning it on high purity celluloses.
CRITT Bio-Industries
Contribution
CRITT Bio-Industries is in charge of developing an efficient enzymatic hydrolysis process for xylans from
hardwood, and a process for purifying the sugars released.
- Study of the enzymatic hydrolysis stage (development, screening of industrial enzymes, optimization);
- Study of different separation/purification techniques: development and development of a chain of unit operations to achieve the desired specifications (studies of different unit operations, screening of industrial membranes, etc.);
- Chaining of unit operations of enzymatic treatment and purification on pre-industrial equipment (scale-up, percentage of hydrolysis, yields, purities, flows);
- Optimization of the unit operations sequence, generate and transfer of pre-sizing data (yields, purities, flows, etc.);
- Production of batches at different degrees of purity for application tests.