INCITE project update after two years of work

The eight European partners involved in the INCITE project are progressing with the design of their two demonstration plants, which will be constructed in Belgium and Italy. Launched in September 2019, INCITE aims at widening the industrial implementation of chemo-enzymatic processes in the European industry in order to increase flexibility, productivity and process safety compared to traditional chemical synthesis while reducing the environmental impacts of processes and products.

Demonstration Activities

In September 2021, the eight partners of the INCITE project held their annual meeting in Belgium to discuss amongst other things the site and construction preparations of two demonstrations plants. The future plants will incorporate the INCITE technology in order to demonstrate the feasibility of two chemo-enzymatic processes. Oleon will welcome the oleochemical esters demo-plant on its production site in Oelegem, Belgium, while Endura will install its agrochemical demonstration plant on its site in Ravenna, Italy. The demonstration activities in real industrial setting will show the potential for integration into existing plants and industrial operations.

Training

One key activity of the project is the development of learning resources and training. The INCITE training strategy will encompass a digital e-learning component. All partners contribute to the learning modules. During the General Assembly, the further approach has been discussed: The e-learning training will be composed of ten modules, starting with the considerations of more general underlying technologies and green chemistry principles used in INCITE, such as flow chemistry, membrane technology and the use of renewable resources.

About INCITE

In the context of climate change and raising environmental concerns, the focus of manufacturing industries has been gradually shifted towards the development of cleaner, safer and sustainable production processes. The INCITE project aims at demonstrating new integrated up- and downstream processing paths. The first demonstration case relates to the Oleochemical Track with the solvent-free synthesis of natural oleochemical esters using lipase enzymes finding applications in food/feed, personal care and crop protection. The second demonstration case relates to the Agrochemical Track involving esterase-catalyzed production of a chiral molecule used as starting material with applications in crop protection and public health.

The INCITE project will widen the industrial implementation of the two processing paths in the European industry. It will demonstrate the flexibility, simplicity and modularity of the proposed solutions.

GET YOUR FREE SAMPLE

INCITE’s partner Oleon has managed to obtain very high quality enzymatic isopropyl palmitate (IPP) and is glad to be offering free samples to interested organizations for testing the product in their current or future formulas.

Are you interested?

To get a 250 ml sample of enzymatic IPP, please fill out the form on our website: project-incite.eu/sample-request/

INCITE brings together 8 European partners from 4 countries:

3 universities and research organizations: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO, Belgium), Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM (Germany), Ghent University (Research Group STEN & GREEN-CHEM network, Belgium)
1 SME: BICT S.R.L. (Italy)
1 engineering company: NextChem S.P.A. (Italy)
2 large industries: Oleon N.V. (Belgium), Endura S.P.A. (Italy)
1 competitiveness cluster: IAR, the French Bioeconomy Cluster (France)

Duration: 52 months (September 2019 – December 2023) | Total budget: € 17.4 M

INCITE has received € 13.3 M funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme on the Topic CE-SPIRE-04-2019 – Efficient integrated downstream processes (Grant Agreement number 870023)

European Commission website: cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/224852/factsheet/en