EU supported project
Borregaard has received 4 million euros in research support from the EU to develop Borregaard's biorefinery concept.
The EU's Seventh Framework Program for research and development will grant a total of 57 million euros through the announcement of the Joint Biorefinery Call in the period 2010-2014. Over 50 projects applied originally, but only three projects have been given support. Borregaard is represented in two of these.
The EU's funds aim to stimulate European industry to become more competitive in international markets. The Joint Biorefinery Call is especially aimed at developing renewable fuel and chemicals to reduce greenhouse gases and make us less dependent on oil and gas in the future.
One of the projects has been given the name EuroBioRef and is coordinated from Lille University, France. The project has 28 partners that together will research new methods of creating chemicals from biomass. In this project, Borregaard alone has received a grant of 2.9 million euros. Borregaard's role in EuroBioRef is to develop technology that degrades the biomass to sugar in solution.
The other project which Borregaard has received resources for, Suprabio, also concerns complete biorefinery processes from biomass to a line of products. Borregaard contributes here with microfibrillar cellulose. The project has 16 partners and Borregaard alone received 1.1 million euros in EU support.
