Europe is in the process of moving away from an economy based on fossil fuels. The EU-funded FALCON project has achieved a breakthrough with a range of bio-based compounds that turn waste plant matter into essential chemicals, which offers citizens a greener and more economically viable future.

In order to significantly cut harmful emissions and encourage greener industrial practices, Europe is transitioning to a bio-based economy. This means moving away from chemical processes based on fossil fuels, and towards biological processes based on renewable resources.

With this in mind, the EU-funded FALCON project identified lignin as a potential fuel source, and as an alternative building block for industrial chemicals. Lignin, which is found in the cell walls of wood, is also an organic by-product of bioethanol production. Scientists have forecasted that this renewable organic waste stream is set to increase as more bioethanol plants are built.

“When this project began in 2017, our main aim was to take lignin and turn it into marine fuel,” explains FALCON project coordinator Ronald de Vries, who leads the Fungal Physiology group at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. “Huge waste streams of lignin oil coming out of bioethanol plants were predicted. Our intention was to find ways of turning these waste streams into biofuel for ships. However, this hasn’t quite happened yet.”

The reason for this is that in the past few years, new bioethanol plants have not been built at the speed that many anticipated. The levels of lignin waste needed to turn the marine fuel concept into a viable global industry therefore are still not there. “While we advanced the technology in this regard, society has not moved forward at the same pace,” says de Vries.

Fungal cell factories

In contrast, another aspect of the project, the development of fungal cell factories for the conversion of lignin compounds to platform chemicals, proceeded much faster than expected. This involved identifying and using fungal cells as biological ‘processing facilities’, to convert lignin waste into chemical feedstocks.

These bio-sourced chemical compounds can then be used by industries such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and plastics to make final products that meet growing consumer demand for renewably sourced ingredients.

“At the beginning this was really blue sky thinking,” adds de Vries. “We had to start from scratch, but we were able to identify fungal strains that could become cell factories. In fact, we filed two patents based on our research on bio-based compounds that are already used in industry for a range of products. The advances we were able to make have been well above our expectations.”

Organic chemical compounds

Following completion of the FALCON project, the team is now looking to identify speciality chemical companies with the capacity and determination to scale up this technology, and to develop cell factories capable of converting lignin waste streams into clean, industrially useful compounds. De Vries stresses that bringing this technology to market is above all the key aim.

“The potential range of end users for these bio-based compounds is huge,” remarks de Vries. “At the moment we are investigating a few specific areas, such as the potential for using these compounds as precursors for resins, lubricants and plastics. In addition, the food and feed market is of major interest.”

By targeting various value chains for the lignin waste stream, the FALCON project has made a significant contribution to Europe’s ongoing transition from relying on chemical processes based on fossil fuel resources to using bioprocesses based on renewables.

“This really shows the benefit of EU projects that address multiple targets,” says de Vries. “Our success also shows the importance of focusing on research that is not necessarily close to market. Otherwise, we would not have made the advances that we were able to make.”