Research Explorer

Project

Biorefinery of entire plant biomass to aromatics
Acronym
ARBOREF
Code
179I078015
Duration
01 April 2015 → 31 March 2019
Funding
Regional and community funding: various
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Plant biochemistry
    • Plant cell and molecular biology
    • Plant genetics
    • Metabolomics
  • Engineering and technology
    • Other biotechnology, bio-engineering and biosystem engineering not elsewhere classified
Keywords
biomass
 
Project description
 

This project aims to produce both new and existing aromatics in a new, fully integrated 'lignin first' biorefinery. The underlying technology was developed at KU Leuven and converts the entire lignocellulosic biomass into a soluble phenolic fraction and a solid pulp rich in carbohydrates. For both fractions, fermentative and chemical synthesis routes will be investigated in the project to convert them to aromatic molecules in an atom efficient way.