AP3: Advanced Pulping for Perennial Plants

The structural change from a petroleum-based to a sustainable bio-based economy gathers momentum and the need for novel approaches that combine economic prosperity with ecological responsibility becomes of high importance. In this context, the AP3 Focus lab develops an integrated biorefinery concept for processing perennial biomass which is grown on marginal soils and then efficiently fractioned by the OrganoCat technology (Fig. 1). Using non-edible, lignocellulosic biomass from plants that do not need to grow on arable land avoids competition with food production and leads to a truly sustainable solution.

The AP³ project interlinks worldwide leading expertise in plant science and chemical engineering alongside economics and innovation management. The TIM Chair group contributes to this interdisciplinary endeavor within the Work Package 4 (WP4) by undertaking the following research objective:

Product and techno-economic evaluation and exploitation

• Evaluation of potential industrial applications for the OrganoCat-derived products and other valuable compounds, as well as assessment of their market potential (analysis of patent data, review of literature and relevant regulations).
• Systemic analysis of the new emerging value chains with respect to network capabilities, resource complementarity, industry standards, availability of downstream processing technologies, costs (desk research and expert interviews).
• Evaluation of the technology adoption along the value chain at B2B level (focus group interviews, surveys).

Contact

Lora Tsvetanova – Dr. Laura Carraresi
Institute for Food and Resource Economics
Chair for Technology and Innovation Management in Agribusiness
Phone: +49-(0)228-73-35 3507 // +49-(0)228-73-35 3504
E-mail: l.tsvetanova@ilr.uni-bonn.de // l.carraresi@ilr.uni-bonn.de