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03/28/2024

06/22/2017

Launch of new renewable solvents EU projekt

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ReSolve, a €4.3 million EU project focused on replacing traditional, fossil-based solvents, officially launched on June 15th. Led by the University of York, the project consortium is comprised of 11 partners from 5 different countries, including Circa Group subsidiary company Circa Sustainable Chemicals UK Ltd.

ReSolve, an abbreviation of 'Renewable solvents with high performance in applications and improved toxicity profiles', is a three-year project looking for alternatives to substances categorised as very high concern (SVHC) under European REACH regulation. ReSolve answers the BBI-2016-R06 call on 'Bio-based alternatives to improve protection of human health and the environment'.

The project is set to demonstrate production of novel alternatives to replace toxic solvents toluene and NMP, create an additional pipeline of bio-based solvents, establish a toxicological safety testing strategy and evaluate possible production processes of the most advanced bio-based solvent candidates, benchmarked against conventional solvents.

Tony Duncan, CEO and co-founder of Circa Group, said, "As producers of biosolvent Cyrene®, we are delighted to participate in a project focused on developing more non-toxic, bio-based alternatives. Our Furacell™ platform is one of two core technical streams which will demonstrate and produce new, renewable solvents for ReSolve. We are looking forward to collaborating with our project partners and we are keen for ReSolve to be a success story which will enable the EU to further promote the benefits of biosolvents."About Circa Group

Established in 2006, Australian company Circa Group converts waste biomass into advanced bio-based chemicals with its proprietary Furacell™ process. Circa's broad product portfolio includes biosolvents, flavours and biopolymers, including Cyrene®, an alternative to traditional polar aprotic solvents. Cyrene® is created through the conversion of highly-flexible platform chemical Levoglucosenone, which is also manufactured by Circa. Industrial quantities of Levoglucosenone are available for the first time thanks to Circa's Furacell™ process and it has many industrial applications, including pharmaceutical, agrichemical, food and cleantech. By creating renewable chemicals from cellulose, Circa is extracting value from waste biomass and addressing a gap in the market by providing bio-based, non-toxic alternatives.

Source: Sustainability Consult