OBJECTIVES

Overall Objectives

The general objective of CAFIPLA is to develop an integrated pre-treatment process to convert heterogeneous organic materials to building blocks for the bio-based economy. This will be achieved by linking a Carboxylic Acid Platform (CAP) with a Fibre Recovery Platform (FRP).

The CAP will be otimized to

  1. steer the hydrolysis process to create a specific carboxylic acid spectrum depending on the target application in the bio-based economy and/or
  2. obtaining a constant output quality / spectrum from fluctuating input.

The FRP research focusses on

  1. the implementation of an environmentally friendly process for insoluble fibre extraction using deep eutectic solvents (DES) and  
  2. the provision of fibres for different applications considering differences in feedstock / biomass supply.

Specific Objectives

1

Convert 80% of the easily degradable organic matter in selected bio-waste to short chain carboxylic acids (SCCA) at TRL 3.

2

Manipulate the SCCA fermentation process from heterogeneous bio-waste in order to produce minimum 3 different SCCA product spectra with a fixed composition at TRL 3-4 (max 10% deviation).

3

Recover 65% of the insoluble fibre content in the selected bio-waste mixes, of which minimum 30% for high quality applications at TRL 3-4.

4

Integrate the CAP and FRP in an optimized cascade process considering biomass supply chains and demonstrate the feasibility in a TRL 5 pilot plant at the IDE test site treating 10 t/y mixed bio-waste.

5

Demonstrate the application potential of the produced intermediates in 5 bio-refinery concepts.

6

Demonstrate the sustainability and safety of the pre-treatment processes.

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