Kick-off meeting of AgriLoop, a European project in cooperation with China on converting agricultural residues into novel opportunities

The AgriLoop project (Pushing the frontier of circular agriculture by converting residues into novel economic, social, and environmental opportunities) was launched from the 24th to 26th of January 2023 in a meeting celebrated at Montpellier (France). The project, framed within the EU Horizon Europe program and coordinated by Prof. Nathalie Gontard from the Institut National de Recherche pour L'Agriculture, L'alimentation et L'Environnement (INRAE, France), is granted a total of € 7.8 million. The participation of the Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research (CSIC) in this project is led by Prof. Auxiliadora Prieto, Head of the Polymer Biotechnology Group (POLYBIO). This Research and Innovation Action is a collaboration between 22 European and 13 Chinese partners. The European partners are from 10 countries (FR, NL, BE, DN, ES, IT, PT, HR) plus non-EU members UK and CH.

The 35 partners (half academic/private) of AgriLoop consortium aim to extend the agricultural production value by eco-efficiently upgrading underexploited residues into a portfolio of high-added-value bio-products able to generate new bio-based markets or to compete with and gain market share of, oil- and food crops-based equivalents. AgriLoop will develop Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) bioconversion processes integrated into a cascading biorefinery approach to convert a range of agricultural residues (from e.g., tomato, soy, straw, potato, brewery, oil, winery, and livestock sectors) into plant and microbial proteins, polyesters and other bio-based chemicals to be used for food, feed, health, and materials applications, especially by the farming sector.

AgriLoop scientific and technical objectives are to i) improve the recovery of highly functional native molecules from primary and secondary residues and to tailor bioconversion schemes toward microbial proteins and polyesters, for overcoming the limitations related to feedstock complexity, processes eco-efficiency and end-product performances, and in parallel ii) anticipate the complex circularities of such biorefinery to comply with safe and sustainable requirements, guide scientific and technological advances of AgriLoop cascading processes toward end-products tailored to the just necessary (Frugal Design) and fast track their further adoption as demonstrated in upscaling selected biorefineries schemes.

By strengthening EU-CN cooperation, informing SSbD guidance, and opening up new avenues for flexible agricultural-based value chains, AgriLoop will increase resources efficiency through reduced discharges of agricultural residues, while taking a share of the highly dynamic worldwide markets of alternative proteins and biochemicals (incl. biopolymers) and lowering the cost of agriculture and food system on our environment and health.

The POLYBIO group of CIB will participate in this international collaborative project by applying some agricultural residues to produce and extract biopolymers of the PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) type for its subsequent use as a bioplastic material.

More information at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101081776

Official website: https://www.agriloop-project.eu/