HORIZON-JU-CBE-2026-IA-01: Biotech routes for valorisation of residual biomass

Bondalti Water offers an industrial integrator and demonstration partner role to accelerate biotechnology-based routes converting residual biomass into bio-based chemicals, intermediates, polymers/materials, ingredients and/or enzymes, with a strong focus on the “hard parts” of scale-up: feedstock variability, pretreatment/fractionation, separation/purification, water/effluent management, and safe circularity.

What we can contribute (work packages / tasks)

• Feedstock access and conditioning (multi-actor): enable partnerships with feedstock managers (utilities/industry) and provide real-world constraints and datasets (composition variability, contaminants, logistics), supporting the topic’s multi-actor expectation.

• Pretreatment/fractionation integration: engineering and optimisation of pretreatment trains tailored to residual biomass (including sludge-derived streams), with a focus on robustness, energy efficiency, and downstream bioprocess compatibility.

• Separation/purification and wastewater integration: design and validation of (energy)-efficient separation/purification steps for bioprocess outputs, plus complete effluent/residue treatment solutions to ensure compliant, circular operation without reinjecting pathogens/contaminants into loops.

• Demonstration at TRL ≥6: support pilot/demonstration operation (commissioning, monitoring, O&M protocols), performance verification (yield, titre, selectivity, uptime), and replicable operating playbooks to reach TRL 6–7.

• End-product validation (TRL ≥5): support validation of biorefinery products in selected application sectors to meet market requirements, aligned with scope.

• Digital monitoring and modelling: online monitoring strategies, data pipelines, and hybrid modelling for process control, drift detection, and scale-up learning.

• Logistics and risk/regulatory assessment support: contribute to optimised sourcing/storage/transport concepts and risk assessment (human safety, biodiversity, environmental safety) with mitigation measures, as requested by the topic.

Keywords / tags

Residual biomass; sewage sludge; industrial bio-waste; pretreatment/fractionation; fermentation/bioconversion; enzymes/microbiomes; separation & purification; water/effluent management; circularity; resource efficiency; TRL 6–7 demonstration; scale-up; logistics optimisation; risk assessment.