Providing Growledge for the European Bioeconomy

The GRACE project has received funding from the Bio-Based Industries

Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 rese-

arch and innovation programme under grant agreement No 745012.

www.grace-bbi.eu

The BBI project GRACE

» GRowing Advanced industrial Crops

on marginal lands for biorEfineries «

(GRACE)

• € 15 million project, primarily funded (€12.3 million) by the “Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking”(BBI JU) under the EU framework H2020

• Consortium of 22 partners from academia, industry, SME’s, farmers and an industry cluster

• 80 ha (~ 120 football pitches) new demonstration fields of miscanthus and hemp on land not used for food or feed production

• Demonstration of 10 bio-based value chains at an industrial scale

• Open Industry Panel enables interested companies to participate in the project and to implement sustainable bioeconomy value chains

Quick facts about the GRACE projectBiobased value chains

Green chemistry:2nd generation Bio-ethanol from miscanthus growing on abandoned land (Lead partner: INA)

Platform chemical Bio-Butanediol and azelaic acid for bioplastics and biocomposites using miscant-hus (Lead partner: Novamont)

HMF and phenols from miscanthus biomass as platform chemicals and building blocks (Lead partner: University of Hohenheim, AVA Biochem)

Green Building:Formaldehyde-free particle boards (Lead partner: CMF Greentech)

Mycelium-based panels from hemp and miscant-hus fibres (Lead partner: MOGU)

Insulation material from miscanthus parenchym (Lead partner: Gießereitechnik Kühn)

Lightweight concrete and speciality paper from miscanthus growing at Schiphol airport (Lead partner: Miscanthusgroep)

Green Composites:Miscanthus fibre reinforced polymer composites (Lead partner: Addiplast)

Green Medicine:Non-psychotropic cannabinoids (CBD) from hemp threshing residues for medicinal and cosmetic applications (Lead partner: Indena)

Green Agriculture:Bio-herbicide refinery using hemp oil (Lead partner: Novamont)

In the € 15 million GRACE project, a unique consortium of 22 partners from academia, industry, SME’s, farmers and an industry cluster are joining forces to demonstrate the upscaling of miscanthus crop production, the cultivati-on of miscanthus and hemp on land of low productivity, abandoned and contaminated land, and 10 bio-based value chains at industrial scale.

Within the project, two biomass crops are cultivated: miscant-hus and hemp. Both were chosen for their excellent properties as potential sustainable biomass sources and for the quantity and quality of the biomass they produce.

The biomass crops miscanthus and hemp are cultivated on marginal lands currently not used to produce food or feed crops. Marginal land is defined here as land where several bio-physical (e.g. low soil fertility) and socio-economic cons-traints hinder the cultivation of food and feed crops.

Within the framework of the GRACE project, the social, eco-nomic and environmental dimensions of the sustainability of the ten novel bio-based value chains are assessed.

SustainabilityGRACE-Project Crops Marginal lands

Partners

Contact

Coordinator

Wageningen University

INRA

Aberystwyth University

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture

Novamont S.p.A.

Mogu S.r.l.

AVA Biochem BSL AG

Addiplast SA

INA d.d.

Indena SpA

C.M.F. GREENTECH S.R.L.

Consorzio di Bonifica di Piacenza

Gießereitechnik Kuehn

Gruppo Fibranova SRL

Miscanthusgroep

Terravesta

Vandinter-Semo

Novabiom

Miscanthusfarm

Italian Cluster of Green Chemistry SPRING

University of Hohenheim (340b)GRACE project70593 StuttgartGermany

a.kiesel@uni-hohenheim.deTel. +49 711 459 22379www.grace-bbi.eu

www.grace-bbi.eu@grace-bbi