A strategic European consortium scales up sustainable bio-based alternatives to replace fossil-derived intermediates and decarbonise industrial value chains.
SEVILLA, SPAIN – The chemical industry in Europe is experiencing a major shift towards sustainable manufacturing with the official launch of RenewChem. Funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, this ambitious 48-month flagship initiative has kicked off its inaugural meeting in Sevilla, gathering five industrial and innovation partners from across Europe.
The chemical sector remains a fundamental pillar of the EU economy, yet its traditional reliance on carbon-intensive processes requires urgent innovation to align with the European Green Deal and the Net-Zero Industry Act targets. RenewChem addresses this challenge directly by scaling up a disruptive thermochemical catalytic technology capable of converting bioethanol into higher-value long-chain alcohols. These green alternatives will serve as cost-effective, molecularly identical and carbon-negative drop-in substitutes for conventional petrochemical intermediates, substantially reducing carbon footprints across key downstream chemical value chains.
Led by technology developer CATALYXX (Spain) alongside sector leaders EVONIK (Germany), ARKEMA (France) and boutique advisor firm MAGFI (Malta), the consortium represents a complete cross-border value chain. Over the two-day Kick-off Meeting, partners focused on immediate priorities for the first six months of the project, including further reinforcing collaborative workflows, setting and deploying baseline engineering schedules for a flagship bio-alcohol facility (biorefinery) as well as defining and deploying the project’s public identity and branding.
“The launch of RenewChem signs a critical milestone for Europe’s bioeconomy. By uniting world-class technological innovation with key industrial leaders, we are validating commercial-scale solutions that prove circular chemical manufacturing is economically viable, industrially efficient and profoundly beneficial for the environment.”
— Paloma Fra, RenewChem Coordinator Statement
Over its 48-month lifecycle, the RenewChem project will focus on four core operational areas to guarantee maximum market integration and sustainability:
- Flagship Plant Concept: Deploying a commercial-scale, first-of-a-kind industrial bio-alcohol production facility based on advanced chemical engineering and optimised process design.
- Value Chain Integration: Coordinating the pathway from secure, sustainable bioethanol feedstock supply up to rigorous downstream purification and industrial verification.
- Environmental & Economic Impact Assessment: Applying safety, waste and independent life-cycle assessments (LCA) to ensure clear greenhouse gas avoidance and cost-competitiveness.
- Supportive Ecosystem & Cross-Cutting Frameworks: Driving multi-actor stakeholder engagement, Open Science knowledge-sharing tools and sound data management to benefit the wider European bioeconomy.
Ultimately, RenewChem aims to deliver demonstrable scalability and secure stable, high-performance bio-based chemical supplies that help chemical manufacturers meet strict international sustainability benchmarks without sacrificing product quality or performance.
MEDIA AND COORDINATION CONTACTS
Project Media Contact
Laura Franco Martinez
MAGFI LTD
laufra@magfi.eu
Project Coordinator
Paloma Fra Sánchez
CATALYXX Proceso Cataliticos SL
Email: paloma.fra@catalyxxinc.com
Funding Acknowledgment: This project has received funding from the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101291992.