The VIPRISCAR Project completed three years of intensive research in the generation of new solutions for a Bioeconomy approach with the dissemination of a free access webinar.
Towards a sustainable chemical model in Europe (18th May 2021) was a specific online workshop organized by Tecnalia to foster research in the Biorefinery and Bioeconomy fields. There, different successful initiatives about the development of biobased industries across Europe were presented. It was intended to open a discussion forum where new opportunities can emerge to transform the production models according to the new economic and societal needs. The VIPRISCAR project showed the principal technological results in relation to the IBMC production, its scaling-up to a preindustrial scale and application in three high volume application sectors (coatings, adhesives, and biomedical catheters).
The IBMC interest as a substitute for toxic petro-derived monomers as Bisphenol-A or di-isocyanates is an example of a new productive model possible in Europe. Together with VIPRISCAR, other relevant initiatives supported by the BBI were also presented as: new routes for the production of safer biobased solvents (RESOLVE, CHAMPIONS project), the development of technologies that reinforce a Circular Economy approach (IRODDI), the potential of new bio-based packaging films for a world with fewer plastics (BIONTOP), the intensive development of new non-petroleum derived membranes (BIOCOMEM) or how to bridging the bio-based economy collaboration gap (BIOBRIDGES project).
All these projects reflect very well how sustainability and circularity are indispensable concepts to overcome the current limitations of the chemical industry in Europe, which are mostly lineal and must deal with resource constraints, greenhouse gases, and pollution.
