NWO and the National Growth Fund programme GroenvermogenNL are awarding 19.3 million euros to the HyFINE consortium for increasing the sustainability of the synthesis of specialty and fine chemicals. This can make an important contribution to making the Dutch chemical industry more sustainable.
Specialty and fine chemicals are an important part of the chemical, materials, agro- and pharmaceutical industries. Current production processes of specialty and fine chemicals are based on fossil resources. In addition, they consume a lot of energy and generate a lot of waste. Making these processes more sustainable is therefore important on several accounts. By using hydrogen and green electrons, synthesis routes can be made shorter and cleaner. For example, via electrochemical reactions or photo/redox catalysis where thermodynamically ‘upward’ reactions become possible.
About the call
The call on which this project is based was developed in collaboration with the GroenvermogenNL foundation and follows on from R&D workpackage 6. The consortium itself has also raised nearly 2 million euros in co-funding and 2.8 million euros of own contribution of businesses and civil society organisations. The total investment in therefore 24.2 million euros.
The consortium behind HyFINE was formed during two intensive workshops in which all parties came together to develop a single proposal. HyFINE is a collaboration between nine universities, three universities of applied sciences (UAS), three research institutes and twenty companies.
The awarded project: HyFINE, Green Hydrogen and Electrons for Specialty and Fine Chemicals
HyFINE is a Dutch project uniting a consortium of knowledge institutes and businesses to make chemicals greener and affordable. They're shifting from fossil feedstocks like oils and gas to sustainable sources like waste, using clean energy like green hydrogen and renewable electricity. The goal is to create climate-neutral, circular production of ingredients for applications such as adhesives, paints, plastics and cosmetics. Beyond technology development, HyFINE focuses on training new experts and sharing knowledge to establish the Netherlands as a leader in green chemistry.
DIFFER is one of the consortium partners of HyFINE. The scientific contribution of the institute will lie in the field of biomass valorisation. Mihalis Tsampas, group leader Catalytic and Electrochemical Processes for Energy Applications (CEPEA): "In collaboration with our academic and industrial partners we aim to contribute to the development of a new generation of electrolyzers that can efficiently drive HyFINE applications."
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