CIRCLE

Circular Initiative for Recycling and waste Conversion into Lactate Extracts

The CIRCLE consortium aims to boost biobased chemical production in Europe by valorising food waste streams. The project will upgrade the capacity of an existing biogas plant to transform food waste streams and other biomasses into high-value biobased chemicals and intermediates such as lactic acid (LA) and its derived products, including polylactic acid (PLA)-based ones. 

Activities: 

The CIRCLE project aims to: 

• Build an industrial-scale CIRCLE biorefinery by retrofitting a pre-existing facility (FLAGSHIP).  
• Maximise the flexibility of the energy supply within the plant by expanding the use of renewable energy resources to increase the overall resource efficiency of the process.  
• Increase the use of multiple by-product streams in the CIRCLE flagship plant, expanding the current feedstock portfolio processed in the existing biorefinery. This will lead to a yearly conversion of about 117,000 tonnes of food waste and other by-products into high-value biobased compounds.  
• Demonstrate the industrial-scale operation of the new CIRCLE ‘multi-purpose’ biorefinery.  
• Validate and demonstrate the wide industrial-level applicability of the biobased chemical materials and how they meet the market requirements.  
• Ensure the sustainability and circularity of the value chain.  
• Demonstrate the replication potential of the new concept in the European Union and associated countries by offering a widely scalable technology that can be rapidly deployed across multiple sites. 

ACTIVITIES of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

BBEPP will demonstrate the fermentation and DSP process while awaiting the Flagship plant to be ready, in order to make market-ready material in the early stage of the project 

PARTNERS: 

• Triple W, IL (Coordinator)
• Fondazione Icons, Italy  
• Sulapac Oy, Finland  
• Orgaworld Nederland, NL   
• Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, BE  
• Vamix, Belgium  
• Frieslandcampina Nederland, NL  
• Zero Emissions Engineering, NL  
• Davines, IT  
• Ecover Co-Ordination Center, BE  
• Fibenol, EE  
• 3plw, BE  
• Tipa Corp, IL  
• Lg Chem Europe, DE  
• ETAM, Anonymh Etaireia Symboyleytikon Kai Melethtikon Ypiresion, GR  
• Volkswagen, DE 

SUPPORTED by

The project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members.

Disclaimer Art 17.3. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CBE JU. Neither the European Union, nor CBE JU can be held responsible for them.