Sustainable cellulose-based materials

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

Although market prospects of cellulose-based products in textiles, films and thermoplastics are high, their current market share is relatively small due to the environmental and cost limitations of current cellulose based processes. The need to meet tighter environmental demands and to compete with cotton and fossil based polymers calls for the development of high-cellulose content pulp, and innovative cellulose dissolution, regeneration and derivatisation processes.

Develop innovative cellulose dissolution processes and related technologies enabling the production of cellulose-based products with innovative properties. Proposals should address the processing and processability of cellulose pulp (e.g. dissolving pulp, recycled viscose, recycled cotton), into new products such as textile fibres, films, and thermoplastic materials. Developed products should be tested against conventional products, at least matching and preferably outperforming their mechanical properties in dry and wet conditions and improving environmental impact. A life-cycle assessment should be carried out in order to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic performance of the developed technologies. The feasibility of integrating the developed technologies into existing industrial processing chains should be assessed. Strong weight will be put on industrial leadership to fully exploit the developed processes.

It is considered that proposals with a total eligible budget in the range of EUR 2-5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals with another budget.

• Delivering eco-friendly and cost-competitive cellulose products leading to a significant improvement in environmental performance, cost and quality as compared to established alternatives.
• Strengthening market position of cellulose-based products by a reduction of at least 10% of investment and operating costs of newly developed cellulose-dissolving processes as compared to conventional ones.
• Achieving technological validation of at least one of the targeted cellulose-based products to be ready for demonstration.
• For proposals dealing with innovative textile fibres: improvement of the mechanical properties, targeting the performance of cotton and outperforming viscose fibres.
• Enabling the realisation of relevant competitive biorefinery concept(s).