Graanul Biotech receives funding for third EU project

Graanul Invest sub-company Graanul Biotech receives funding in VEHICLE project that works on developing 100% plant-based chemicals produced from renewable raw materials.

During a four-year project, the VEHICLE project consortium, coordinated by Avantium, aim to widen the business and market opportunities of existing and future biorefineries by demonstrating the applicability of their sugar streams in several downstream options.

The main goals for this project are to demonstrate valorization of dilute hemicellulose-rich prehydrolysate streams from pulp mills, which are currently waste streams with little value.

“We are excited that industry is already having  strong interest in our wood fractionation  platform and we are considered as one of the  most perspective supplier of high purity lignin  and wood sugars,“ said Graanul Invest group Research and Development Manager Peep Pitk.

Graanul Biotech has previously received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) as leading partner in the SWEETWOODS project and as consortium member in the REWOFUEL project funded by EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. All those projects are developing and testing renewable raw materials for replacing fossil-based chemicals with more sustainable alternatives.

The total subsidy granted to the Industry Consortium “VEHICLE” from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program is EUR €5.9 million.

VEHICLE consortium consists of several other leading companies across Europe: Avantium Chemicals BV (NL), Ecohelix (SE), Metgen Oy (FI), Novamont Spa (IT), Spinverse (FI), Kemira (FI), Fundacio Universitaria Balmes (ES), Graanul Biotech (EST).