Sugar-based chemicals and Polymers through Innovative Chemocatalysis and engineered Yeast (SPICY) (R-9113)

SPICY's main aim is to provide chemical industry with new or optimized processes to convert sugars into added value compounds, i.e. both drop-ins and novel biobased chemicals. Two complementary lines are hereto developed in parallel, one focusing on biotechnology based on improved yeast-strains and one based on chemocatalytic routes. Both will aspire to meet industrial standards of productivity, titer, yield and selectivity, to safeguard potential economic benefit and future industrial valorization. Most of the target chemicals are (potential) monomers for biobased plastics, hence, a second aim of SPICY is to deliver proof-of-concept of their usefulness by targeting novel and functional polymeric materials, typically not found in the current oil-based valorization chain. The innovation is thus to be achieved both in terms of processes and products in the context of furthering the Flemish biobased value chain.

Keywords:polymer, sugar

Disciplines:Organic chemistry, Process engineering, Polymeric materials

Project type:Collaboration project