Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is a not-for-profit institute approved by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation as a technological service provider. The Institute supports research, technological development and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. DTI’s Biomass and Biorefinery Centre is specialized in handling and treatment of biomass and residuals. DTI will be the coordinator of the MacroFuels project. DTI has a long history of successfully coordinating large EU projects in a number of fields, including FP7 projects such as Biowaste4SP, Bioman and AshMelt.

 

TNO Energy Transition is a government supported energy research institute working on a broad spectrum of energy and environmental techniques (e.g. solar, wind, biomass, climate change). TNO Energy Transition develops advanced uses of biomass, advanced processing and consults on policy development and technical applications. The R&D programme of the unit is divided into four areas: biorefinery (seaweed and lignocellulosic biorefinery), bioenergy (combustion, gasification, gas cleaning, SNG), sustainable process technology and thermal systems. The experience gained in the national project “Seaweed Biorefinery” (2009-2013), of which former ECN (part of TNO) was the coordinator, will be the basis on which TNO will further the development of the seaweed to biofuels technology.

 

Wageningen Food and Biobased Research (WFBR) provides fundamental, strategic and applied research to enable rapid application of academic knowledge to the market. The Business Unit Biobased Products has a strong focus on primary streams of biomass and bio-residues to produce sustainable industrial raw materials, green chemicals (added value products) and bio-energy. This is based on extensive experience and expertise in biomass conversion while addressing (a) biomass composition, availability and costs; (b) physical, chemical and enzymatic pretreatment of biomass; (c) microbial biochemistry, physiology and genomics, bioprocess technology and optimization of fermentation processes. DLO-FBR will contribute to advanced pretreatment and fractionation to obtain sugars -for biochemical conversion to fuels- and the extraction, isolation and characterisation of proteins as a feed source and biochemical conversions of sugar-rich fractions to fuels. The contribution of DLO-FBR will focus on the production of ABE from seaweed.

 

Avantium is a world-wide recognized leader (Cleantech Top 100 Company) in catalytic biomass conversion into furanic building blocks and high throughput technology. It has created an impressive patent portfolio in this area and is a proven adept of the open innovation model. From 2011 onwards, these novel concepts are demonstrated in a first of a kind pilot facility at the Chemelot business park in Geleen, the Netherlands. Therefore, the research results of the MacroFuels project can directly be evaluated on pilot scale when relevant.

 

SAMS is (i) a learned society with 450 ordinary members and an elected governing council; (ii) a National Capability delivery partner of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) undertaking strategic research and hosting UK national capability expertise and infrastructure for long term oceanographic time series, algal culture and scientific diving; and (iii) an academic partner delivering undergraduate and postgraduate education as a part of the University of the Highlands and Islands. SAMS is a UK registered charity and owns two UK-registered subsidiary companies limited by guarantee. SAMS has over 10 years of experience in the cultivation of seaweeds and this expertise will be used for MacroFuels cultivation tasks.

 

SIOEN Industries NV is a diversified stock quoted group with an extensive portfolio of products and activities: spinning, weaving and coating, manufacturing of protective clothing, production of fine chemicals and processing of technical textiles. As one of the world’s leading technical textile companies SIOEN is familiar with the maritime market, being a producer of oil boom materials, high quality protective clothing (e.g. floatation vests) for marine and offshore services, high tenacity multifilament polyester yarns for offshore cables, coated textiles for inflatable boats and several other products. SIOEN Industries is coordinator of the FP7 project AT~SEA (2012-2015) targeting the development of advanced textiles for different aspects of seaweed cultivation (i.e. cultivation substrates, mooring, textile buoys, seaweed storage bags). As such, SIOEN is highly familiar with cultivation aspects of seaweed species, harvesting, and storage. Furthermore SIOEN has direct access to an extensive network of industries and research institutes in the areas of seaweed cultivation and conversion, and in the chemical and materials industries.

 

Environmental Resources Management Limited (ERM) is ranked as a leading provider of environmental, health, safety, risk, social consulting services and sustainability related services, with over 110 offices across the world and employing more than 5,000 staff. ERM are renowned for their extensive knowledge and experience across disciplines, industries and practice areas, supported by our global network. ERM is one of the leading practitioners of life cycle management techniques worldwide, with an enviable reputation both in methodological development and in the application of life cycle methods in influential assignments in many sectors. The team’s collective experience relevant to MacroFuels includes the evaluation of the environmental impacts of using seaweed for biofuel production, evaluation of sustainability impacts of first and second generation biofuels, and many other well to wheel, fuel, renewable fuel and waste life cycle and foot printing studies.

 

Aarhus University (AU) is the second largest university in Denmark with 44,500 students and 11,550 staff members. AU carries out research, teaching as well as research-based and independent consultancy to the public and private sector. The AU National Centre for Environment and Energy (AU-ECN) has the national expertise and responsibility regarding environmental issues. AU has expertise regarding cultivation of brown, red and green macro-algae in land based and near –shore facilities up to a scale of 4 hectares, and for optimising composition of macro-algae biomass for use and non-use value ecosystem services, including environmental impact on the environment of seaweed cultivation. AU is partner in the AlgaeCenter Denmark (ACDK), a platform for R&D, consultancy and dissemination of basic and applied aspects of macro-algae cultivation and utilisation.

 

EURIDA is a sole proprietorship company and specializes in the development and implementation of communication and public engagement strategies for complex European projetcs. EURIDA furthermore has strong expertise in European research and innovation policies and strategies. EURIDA’s experience in communication and public engagement activities assure that outputs and outcomes of MacroFuels will contribute to the objectives of European strategies, especially in the areas of Social Innovation and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). To provide tailored dissemination, communication and stakeholder engagement strategies and formats are at the heart of EURIDA’s activities in MacroFuels.

 

Matís is a dynamic non-profit R&D company which offers services for the biotechnological and food industries. Matís has approximately 100 employees, food scientists, chemists, biochemists and molecular biologists. The section of Biotechnology of Matís uses innovative genomic and metagenomic approaches for bioprospecting natural microbial extreme communities for novel industrial enzymes. The main focus is development of carbohydrate active enzymes for biorefineries and metabolic engineering of microbes for increasing production of energy carriers (biofuels), platform and specialty chemicals.

 

FermentationExperts AS (FERMENTATIONEXPERTS AS) is a Danish private owned company focused on the research and development of lactic acid fermented protein feed for primarily monogastric animals such as pigs, poultry, fish etc. The company has a great insight into the use of different protein types including seaweed in terms of preservation, cell opening, and analysis of protein content. Through one of the company’s subsidiaries, European Protein AS (linked third party), a new full-scale production facility is available to produce lactic acid fermented moist and dry products. The company’s role in this project is primarily to contribute to the develop methods for conditioning, pretreatment and storage of harvested seaweed for their further conversion to liquid biofuels e.g. ethanol and butanol.