Polyurethane (PUR) products, which include foams for building, construction, automotive and furniture and bedding, are petroleum-based and usually lack important properties. The need for sustainability in these industries leads to the development of cost-efficient processes and sustainable added-value products from low carbon footprint materials.

The main objective of European project BIOMAT, coordinated by CeNTI, is to establish an Open Innovation Test Bed (TB) for the benefit of industries and SMEs, aiming to facilitate the cross-border partnership and accelerate innovation in nano-enabled biobased insulation materials for these industries. Through the creation of a Single-Entry Point (SEP), SMEs and other industrial parties will have open access, at a competitive price, to physical facilities (pilot production lines) and services (characterisation, nanosafety, standardisation / regulation, business / marketing plans, as well as technological and business-oriented mentoring), which will be focused on manufacturing and testing of nanoparticle-enabled functional PUR-based foams for the abovementioned industrial sectors. The SEP will follow all European Commission guidelines related to the establishment of new entities providing services through different testbeds across Europe.

BIOMAT ecosystem will cover the entire Value Chain, from fundamental biomaterials and functional nanoparticles to the final products and their proof of concept in an industrial environment, thus accelerating the market uptake of the new nano-enabled sustainable bio-based products. BIOMAT will, therefore, fill the existing gaps in the Value Chain of these industrial sectors, by providing new services and support at different levels the use of such materials in these key industries.

Website: BIOMAT

Main goals

BIOMAT will develop and make available to the industry, 12 processes scaled up to TRL 7 for production of nano-enabled bio-based composite materials, low-cost cellular and nano-reinforced foams. The project objectives will be achieved through the following main stages:

1. Establishment of BIOMAT-TB (the technology transfer platform) and BIOMAT-SEP, that will offer complete and transparent services developed within BIOMAT project to its customers;

2. Scale-up production with inline characterisation of nano-enabled bio-based PUR-foams components;

3. Scale-up production with inline characterisation of nano-enabled bio-based PUR-foams;       

4. Validation of the technologies with 10 demonstrators tested in industrial environments:

• For the construction industries: Lightweight structural composite sandwiches for tunnel linings (2 demonstrators);
• Fort the building industry: 1) Bio-PUR spray foam insulation; 2) Moulded insulation panels and/or sandwiches;
• For the automotive industry: 1) Seat cushion; 2) Headrest with aesthetic features; 3) Steering wheel;
• For the furniture & bedding industry: 1) Chair; 2) Sofa; 3) Mattress.

5. Studying and development of recycling technologies;

6. Assessment of Life and Cost Cycles (LCA & LCC) of the nano-enabled bio-based materials.

Project Number: 953270

Project Duration: January 2021 to December 2024

Total Eligible Cost: 16.707.527,50  €

Financial Support EU: 14.588.169,63 €

Project Type: IA

Intervention Region: Europe