Uni­ver­si­ty full pro­fes­sor Erwann Guénin is a research sci­en­tist work­ing at TIMR, a joint lab­o­ra­to­ry between UTC and ESCOM. He leads a team of lec­tur­er-cum-research sci­en­tists from UTC and ESCOM, includ­ing Gérald Ender­lin, a lec­tur­er at ESCOM and project leader for the TIMR Lab­o­ra­to­ry. They are mem­bers of the CERISEA con­sor­tium, coor­di­nat­ed by Resi­Care, a sub­sidiary of Michelin.

The CERISEA con­sor­tium brings togeth­er no few­er than 15 aca­d­e­m­ic and indus­tri­al par­tic­i­pants in France and oth­er Euro­pean coun­tries, and is fund­ed to the tune of €20 mil­lion by Europe as part of a CBE JU (Cir­cu­lar Bio-based Europe Joint Under­tak­ing) part­ner­ship. Projects fund­ed by a CBE JU must meet a num­ber of envi­ron­men­tal and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment cri­te­ria. “On the aca­d­e­m­ic side in France, in addi­tion to UTC-Com­pieg­ne and ESCOM, the CNRS, IFP Éner­gies nou­velles and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Poitiers are also involved. In Europe, these include the Insti­tu­to Tec­nológi­co del Embal­a­je, Trans­porte y Logís­ti­ca (Spain), the Energie­in­sti­tut an der Johannes Kepler Uni­ver­sität Linz (Aus­tria) and the Insti­tut für Energie- und Umwelt­forschung Hei­del­berg (Ger­many). Among the indus­tri­al part­ners are Miche­lin and Arke­ma (France), Kra­ton Chem­i­cal BV and Avan­tium Renew­able Poly­mers BV (Nether­lands) and ADM Ham­burg AG (Ger­many),” says Erwann Guénin.

One of the main rea­sons for this mobil­i­sa­tion? “As part of the Euro­pean Green Deal, Europe is aim­ing for a 55% reduc­tion in CO₂ emis­sions by 2030 and car­bon neu­tral­i­ty by 2050. How­ev­er, entire sec­tors of indus­try are strug­gling with their raw mate­ri­als, which are cur­rent­ly main­ly petro­le­um-based. For exam­ple, man­u­fac­tur­ers use formalde­hyde, a car­cino­genic and tox­ic mol­e­cule, in a num­ber of appli­ca­tions, includ­ing resins and adhe­sives. From now on, they are required to replace formalde­hyde when­ev­er an alter­na­tive exists. Miche­lin, for exam­ple, aims to offer 100% car­bon-free tyres by 2050. This project is of inter­est to oth­er indus­tri­al sec­tors, such as those involved in the pro­duc­tion of poly­mers or plant pro­tec­tion prod­ucts, for exam­ple,” explains Gérald Enderlin.

Today, a mol­e­cule from the alde­hyde fam­i­ly, 5‑hydroxymethylfurfural (5‑HMF), a bio-based sub­sti­tute, rep­re­sents a real non-tox­ic alter­na­tive. The foun­da­tion stone for a Miche­lin plant to man­u­fac­ture 5‑HMF mat­ter is sched­uled to be laid in Octo­ber in Péage-de-Rous­sil­lon (38). This plant, which is unique in Europe, will have a capac­i­ty of 3 000 tonnes/year and will start pro­duc­tion in 2027.

“The cost of con­struc­tion is esti­mat­ed at near­ly €60 mil­lion, financed by Miche­lin, the project coor­di­na­tor, with assis­tance from Ademe and CBE JU. The appeal of the project lies in the fact that the raw mate­r­i­al comes from D‑fructose, a nat­ur­al mol­e­cule found in sucrose or table sug­ar. The mate­r­i­al is there­fore rel­a­tive­ly abun­dant, as fruc­tose can be pro­duced from sug­ar and starch, and oth­er non-food sources are cur­rent­ly being devel­oped. Com­mer­cial dis­cus­sions are under­way with lead­ing com­pa­nies such as Tere­os, ADM and Roquette for the sup­ply of raw mate­ri­als.” Oth­er advan­tages? “It is an inno­v­a­tive mol­e­cule that also con­tributes to con­sol­i­dat­ing Europe’s sov­er­eign­ty,” empha­sis­es Gérald Enderlin.

What is the role of research sci­en­tists in CERISEA? “In this project, we are mas­ter­ing the pro­duc­tion of 5‑HMF, its use, but also its trans­for­ma­tion into oth­er mol­e­cules of inter­est to indus­try, main­ly for the pro­duc­tion of poly­mers. Our aim is to expand the range of pos­si­ble appli­ca­tions,” explains Erwann Guénin.

To achieve the objec­tives set by the con­sor­tium, UTC and ESCOM have ear­marked a bud­get of €500 000 over four years. This will enable them to recruit two con­tract research sci­en­tists in the ini­tial phase and two research engi­neers. “The two post-docs will be involved in the ear­ly stages of research and devel­op­ment to val­i­date our meth­ods for pro­duc­ing mol­e­cules of inter­est such as diformyl­fu­ran (DFF) and bis-methy­lamino­fu­ran (BAMF). This phase should enable us to answer cer­tain ques­tions: which method should we choose? Which is the best in terms of meet­ing sus­tain­able devel­op­ment cri­te­ria, but also indus­tri­al hygiene, for exam­ple? Once the meth­ods have been val­i­dat­ed in the lab­o­ra­to­ry, the engi­neers will then be involved in the pro­duc­tion phase,” con­cludes Gérald Enderlin.

MSD