Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has many industrial applications, e.g., as chemical reagent and bleaching agent for textiles and wood pulp. The established production route of H2O2 is the autooxidation/ anthraquinone process, which uses natural gas as both feedstock and energy source.The main objective of HYPER is the demonstration, in industrially relevant environments, of a scalable, modular electrochemical process for H2O2 production with improved efficiency compared to the state-of-art. It will bridge this production with downstream integration into diverse value chains, pulp and paper, textiles and coatings/chemicals, in which strong market opportunities exist for modular, on-site and on-demand H2O2 production. The central innovation in HYPER is the use of persulfate as a stable oxidization intermediate, allowing both storage of renewable electricity and on-demand H2O2 production. HYPER will thus help transform H2O2 production from a large-volume, energy intensive chemical process to a smaller-scale, modular, renewable, electrochemical process. Demonstration of electrochemical production technologies at TRL6 and integration into the three aforementioned value chains will allow HYPER to evaluate the potential of the electrochemical production for further TRL development.HYPER will advance a safe, circular, and cost competitive electrified technology for H2O2 production. The estimated production price of ca. 0.6 €/kg can be further decreased by the storage of renewable electricity. Implementation of HYPER technology will decrease life cycle CO2 emissions in H2O2 production by up to 75% when 100% renewable energy sources are used. Estimated CO2 emissions reductions are from 1.1 Mt CO2/yr in 2030 to 1.4Mt CO2/yr in 2045, for cumulative CO2 emission savings of more than 19 Mt by 2045. Energy consumption of the HYPER process are estimated to be over a third less than the established production route.The HYPER consortium consists of 4 RTOs, 6 SMEs and 3 industrial partners.

SmartLi aims at developing technologies for using technical lignins as raw materials for biomaterials and demonstrating their industrial feasibility. The technical lignins included in the study are kraft lignins, lignosulphonates and bleaching effluents, representing all types of abundant lignin sources. The raw materials are obtained from industrial partners. The technical lignins are not directly applicable for the production of biomaterials with acceptable product specifications. Therefore, pretreatments will be developed to reduce their sulphur content and odour and provide constant quality. Thermal pretreatments are also expected to improve the material properties of lignin to be used as reinforcing filler in composites, while fractionating pretreatments will provide streams that will be tested as plasticizers. Lignin is expected to add value to composites also by improving their flame retardancy. The development of composite applications is led by an industrial partner. Base catalysed degradation will be studied as means to yield reactive oligomeric lignin fractions for resin applications. The degradation will be followed by downstream processing and potentially by further chemical modification aiming at a polyol replacement in PU resins. Also PF type resins for gluing and laminate impregnation, and epoxy resins will be among the target products. Full LCA, including a dynamic process, will support the study. The outcome of the research will be communicated with stakeholders related to legislation and standardisation.

The main objective of NeoCel project is to develop innovative and techno-economically feasible alkaline processes enabling the sustainable production of higher quality eco-innovative textile fibres from reactive high-cellulose pulps and integration of these processes with pulp mills. Targets for the development of NeoCel processes are: - wet strength of fibres higher than the wet strength of standard viscose, competing with cotton properties. - lower environmental impact than any other type of existing textile fibre - Reduction of production cost by at least 15% compared to that of best available technology (BAT) viscose The targets will be met through development of adapted pulps with high reactivity/solubility in alkaline water-based solutions, advanced dissolution process to maximize cellulose concentration, novel cellulose regeneration chemistry enabling both recovery of process chemicals and increased strength properties of the spun fibre, design for integration of textile fibre production with the pulp mill for minimized environmental impact, increased energy efficiency and reduced chemical consumption through system analysis using software models of theoretical mills. In NeoCel, a consortium with raw material processing companies, chemical suppliers, equipment producers, SMEs and world-leading research institutes has formed to develop the processes for large scale manufacturing of eco-innovative textile fibres. The consortium expects that a successful NeoCel project will enable creation of 75 000 new jobs and a turn-over increase of 9.5 billion € for European forest products, textile and clothing industries within 15 years. However, already within 3 years, the consortium partners expect their joint turnover to increase by 170 MEuro

The aim of the LigniOx project is to demonstrate the techno-economic viability of the unique LigniOx alkali-O2 oxidation technology for the conversion of various lignin-rich side-streams into versatile dispersants. High-performance concrete plasticizers will be the target end product, but potential other end uses, such as dispersants for paints and gypsum, will be evaluated as well. Valorisation of lignins originating from kraft and organosolv pulping as well as from 2nd generation bioethanol processes will be addressed. Both the oxidation technology and the end-product performance will be demonstrated at operation conditions, thus enabling industrial process installations and entry of the novel lignin products into the markets after the project. The valorisation of lignin side-streams will significantly improve the cost-competitiveness and resource efficiency of lignocellulosic biorefineries. It will also create low-cost, sustainable raw materials for the chemical industry. The LigniOx technology can be integrated into lignocellulosic biorefineries, or it can be operated as a stand-alone unit by chemical industry. For scale-up and process demonstrations, a mobile pilot unit will be constructed. The viability of the process concepts will be demonstrated in operational conditions using relevant pilot equipment and process modelling. The performance of LigniOx concrete plasticizers will be demonstrated by field tests, and industrial product prototypes will be produced. Techno-economy as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts will be assessed. Also regulatory issues will be considered to ensure the market entry.

The kraft process accounts for 82% of global virgin pulp production, 180 Mt in 2020. The kraft process converts half of the wood feedstock into fibrous pulp, the rest is dissolved and mainly burnt in the energy and chemical recovery. Kraft process generates significant exhaust flows, containing air emissions and pollutants such as CO2, SO2, NOx, total reduced sulphur (TRS) and particulates, as well as waste waters, solid wastes and noise emissions. The SAUNA project addresses enhanced environmental performance of pulp production in comparison to the kraft process by developing a novel pulping concept, where feedstock, chemistry, unit operations and energy sources are reconsidered by 11 partners: 5 companies, 4 RTO’s and 2 universities. Higher product yield (90%) is achieved by targeted fractionation of wood applying hot water extraction followed by alkaline oxidation producing hemicellulose and water-soluble lignin in addition to fibrous pulp. Biogenic CO2 emissions will be reduced by 80% in comparison to kraft process. The products will be assessed for applications such as packaging, adhesives and polyurethane. Selected sulphur-free chemistry enables significantly simpler chemical recovery applying wet air oxidation, thus avoiding incineration in kraft recovery boiler and lime kiln, where fossil fuels are used for process control. This eliminates CO2, SO2, NOx, and TRS emissions, influencing climate change, acid rains, biodiversity in forests, soils and water systems, health risks for humans and odours. Biorefinery will be designed to utilise external energy from emerging renewable energy sources or power from small nuclear reactors. If in the future, all pulp biorefineries used the SAUNA technology rather than kraft pulping, and produced the current kraft pulp volume in Europe, there would be 300 SAUNA biorefineries, EU would save annually 49 Mt of CO2 (mainly biogenic CO2), 13.5 ktons of gaseous sulphur compounds (as S), and 36.5 ktons of NOx emissions (as NO2).