NEXT-STEP: recyclable products from wood production residues for everyday applications

Scaling up sustainable and biodegradable materials is crucial for the future advancement of European industry. Currently, many bio-based alternatives struggle to compete with established fossil-based chemicals due to challenges in environmental, economic, and societal performance. To overcome this, NEXT-STEP aims to develop recyclable products from wood production residues for everyday applications. New biochemical materials will be developed for shoe soles and insulation materials for construction.

By reducing manufacturing costs and using second-generation feedstocks such as hardwood sugars produced from residues derived from sustainably managed forests, NEXT-STEP aims to develop a new chemical platform, 3-methyl-d-valerolactone (3MdVL) that will improve the sustainability and recyclability of polyurethane (PU) products and unlock new engineering plastic applications for polylactic acid (PLA) co-polymers. This initiative seeks to address environmental concerns while fostering the adoption of bio-based materials in various industries. Thus, NEXT-STEP realizes a sustainable, safe, and affordable way to produce groundbreaking bio-based chemicals at a large scale.

This will be achieved through 6 specific objectives:

• Sourcing and process optimization for EU-based and sustainable feedstocks.
• Scale-up and demonstration of an innovative and resource-efficient process to produce aMVL.
• Scale-up resource-efficient catalytic processes to unlock the use of 3MdVL and 3MPD as bio-based platform chemicals.
• Commercially viable, safe and sustainable building blocks by design.
• Demonstrate the applicability of aMVL, 3MdVL and 3MPD as bio-based chemical platforms to produce bio-based products meeting market requirements.
• Definition of socially acceptable and competitive business and commercialization plan

12 partners from 8 countries

The project, coordinated by AIMPLAS, is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members and gathers 12 partners from 8 EU countries across the value chain that have come together to work on the development of sustainable materials from feedstock to end-products. The consortium includes the footwear company Adidas, Fibenol, DBFZ, Quantis, Sapienza Università di Roma, Mevaldi, PDC Research Foundation, Ghent University, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Certech, and Altar.

The NEXT-STEP project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members, under GA 101157081.

Source

AIMPLAS, press release, 2025-03-20.

Supplier

AIMPLAS (Asociación de Investigación de Materiales Plásticos y Conexas)
Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC)
Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU)
European Union

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