SURFs UP

Crucial to everyday life, surfactants are used in a variety of sectors, including home and personal care, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food and feed, beverages, chemicals, detergents and much more. However, as many are produced by chemical processes, concerns have been raised about deforestation and supply chains. The global production volume of surfactants is around 18 million tonnes, with expected sales of 47 billion euros by 2027, resulting in significant economic and environmental impacts. Despite growing demand for safe and sustainable options, only 4% of the surfactant market is made up of fully bio-sourced surfactants. The SURFs UP project aims to fill this gap by developing optimized processes for nine second-generation biosurfactant products.

These products will be derived from renewable raw materials, such as wood processing waste (sugars and lignin) and food/regional processing waste. The project will focus on microbial biosurfactants and biosurfactants chemically produced from lignin. Each product will undergo thorough characterization and evaluation on the basis of safety and sustainability criteria. Production will be scaled up, and prototypes formulated for applications in home and personal care, as well as agrochemicals. Economic efficiency and sustainability will be prioritized throughout the project, with full economic and environmental assessments.

Objectives:

The SURFs UP project aims to:

• Map EU sustainable resources and optimize feedstock pre-processing for SURFs UP value chains, focusing on selection of optimal locations and assessment of biomass availability, utilization and volume
• Demonstrate optimized, cost-effective and sustainable bioprocesses for biosurfactant production
• Formulate and demonstrate prototype biosurfactant products for personal care, home care and agrochemical applications, with a focus on reducing CO2 emissions
• Design realistic financial models for a biorefinery concept, integrating in-depth process simulations and model-based techno-economic assessments to ensure economic, environmental and social sustainability
• Design, build and commission the SURFs UP demonstration plant to validate biosurfactant production processes at demonstration scale
• Operationalize the EU Framework for Safe and Sustainable Substances and Products (SSbD) for the development of new biosurfactants, in alignment with environmental objectives and market demand for eco-friendly products
• Use environmental and social performance as a guide in process development and business planning, with the aim of improving overall environmental impact and reducing dependence on imported raw materials

Consortium:

• UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE Liege, Belgium
• CONSORZIO ITALBIOTEC Milano, Italy
• DBFZ DEUTSCHES BIOMASSEFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH Leipzig, Germany
• AJINOMOTO OMNICHEM WETTEREN, Belgium
• TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY Espoo, Finland
• IST-ID ASSOCIACAO DO INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNICO PARA A INVESTIGACAO E O DESENVOLVIMENTO Lisboa, Portugal
• ECOVER CO-ORDINATION CENTER Malle, Belgium
• FIBENOL IMAVERE OU Tallinn, Estonia
• ACONDICIONAMIENTO TARRASENSE ASSOCIACION Terrassa, Spain
• AMPHISTAR GENT, Belgium

Partner:

• UNILEVER U.K. CENTRAL RESOURCES LIMITED LONDON, United Kingdom

Period: May^1, 2024 to October 31, 2027

Type of project : CBE-JU