Recell meets ministers
(25-04-2022) – It does not happen every week that Dutch politicians from The Hague travel to the north of the Netherlands. However, this time even two ministers came to visit Groningen: Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) and Rob Jetten (Climate and Energy) paid a working visit to a number of educational institutions. One of their destinations was the ZAP – the Zernike Advanced Processing facility
Working together on innovation
The ZAP is a semi-industrial learning-working environment where knowledge institutions and (SME) companies work together on innovative solutions for the biobased economy. During this working visit, students of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen explained to them what is going on in this innovation workshop.
Tertiary cellulose
Recell also uses the ZAP facilities. We were given the opportunity to explain to the ministers how we are in the forefront in Europa to get tertiary cellulose on the agenda. And about the importance this has for a future-proof economy. At the ZAP facility we are working on the Cell-U-Value project. We focus on the use of cellulose from residual flows as a raw material for high-quality, sustainable chemistry. Meaning we recover the cellulose from waste streams that would otherwise be incinerated.
Green chemistry
The Cell-U-Value project focuses on making glucose from the cellulose. We upgrade this glucose into bio-ethanol or acetic acid, for example, raw materials that can be used in numerous chemical applications. This creates sustainably produced biobased raw materials. For instance used for bioplastics, paint and cleaning agents. The great thing is: these raw materials can serve as a replacement for fossil sources. In this way we make a valuable contribution to a sustainable, biobased economy.
Sharing knowledge
To arrive at a biobased circular economy, we need to bring together knowledge and expertise on various fronts. It is therefore important to link knowledge institutions and the business community and to set up joint projects. The ZAP facility offers very good opportunities for this. At Recell, we are very well aware of the importance of working together. The Cell-U-Value project is a nice example of one of our fruitful collaborations. We are carrying out this project together with ISPT (Institute for Sustainable Process Technology), Nobian and the University of Groningen (RUG).