HORIZON-JU-CBE-2024-RIA-02 – Biotech routes to obtain bio-based chemicals/ materials replacing animal-derived ones

The main animal-derived products used in clothing and upholstery are leather, fur, and feathers. Leather is derived from a variety of animals but mostly from cows, whilst fur tends to come from sheep/lamb/lama and feathers from ducks or geese. Though these animal-derived products are serving the fashion sector, their main purpose is to provide comfort in extreme weather conditions. Synthetic faux leather and furs provide the fashion look but struggle to compete with the functional properties of animal-derived products in terms of durability and functionality.

Celignis through an internally-funded project has developed seaweed polysaccharide derived leather and foams/aerogels that have the potential to replace leathers and feathers. The leathers show good flexibility and self-healing properties but improvements are needed in terms of hydrophobicity. The aerogels/foams that were produced showed high porosity, low density, and excellent thermal resistance. Celignis is keen to further improve these products, especially improving the hydrophobicity without negatively impacting the thermal conductivity and self-healing properties. In addition to this, Celignis is interested to develop similar products from the polysaccharides of terrestrial plants.

Background on Celignis:

Celignis is an SME that was spun-out from an EU research project (the FP7 advanced biofuels project DIBANET) that was written and coordinated by Celignis's founder Daniel Hayes.

It has now been over ten years since the end of that project and over that time Celignis has grown in size and reputation and now occupies a valuable niche as being the premier analytical and bioprocess development provider to clients in the biomass sector. We provide a wide range of compositional analysis services and bioprocessing expertise to a diverse array of customers (including SMEs, multinationals, and universities) looking to utilise biomass feedstocks, residues and wastes for the production of biobased products, biofuels, and energy.

In April 2023 Celignis joined the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) as a Full Industry SME Member, meaning that we can contribute to the strategic direction and future calls of the CBE-JU and that Celignis is an eligible partner for all CBE-JU actions. The CBE requires that any Large Industry or SME partner in Innovation Action (end TRL 6/7) or Flagship (end TRL 8) projects is a BIC member.

Celignis is a partner in 1 ongoing CBE project, with a further 3 (successful awardees of CBE-JU funding in the 2023 call) starting between May and Sept 2024. The ongoing project, PERFECOAT is a RIA (Research and Innovation Action) project, whilst the 3 upcoming projects (BIONEER, PROMOFER, and MANUREFINERY) are Innovation Action (TRL 6/7) projects. The extensive developments in processing capacity (up to 1m3) by Celignis Bioprocess over the last few years make us particularly suited to participation in such higher-TRL topics.

Regarding our completed CBE-JU projects, they were funded as part of the Biomass Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) programme. The BBI-JU was the precursor to the CBE-JU for which 2022 was the first year of operation. Our first such project, the RIA project BIOrescue, was completed in 2019, whilst the RIA project UNRAVEL ended in 2022 and the Innovation Action project VAMOS was completed in 2023. Click here to read more about our ongoing and completed CBE/BBI projects.

In addition to these CBE projects, Celignis is currently active in a number of other research projects funded by the EU's Horizon programme. Click here to read more about these projects and here to learn more about our completed EU projects.

"Celignis had successful proposals in over 40% of the CBE-JU Innovation Action topics in 2023. Our Full-Industry BIC membership and extensive scaled-up bioprocessing capabilities make us particularly suited to participation in IA proposals"

More details on Celignis at:

https://www.celignis.com/about.php