Retrofitting of (bio)refineries industrial plants towards higher-value bio-based products

The main goal of this opportunity is to upgrade existing industrial sites in Europe to produce advanced bio-based products. The focus is on transforming biorefineries and fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield sites to adopt innovative biomass conversion processes. Projects should support sustainability, circularity, and societal value, including job creation and workforce reskilling. Key challenges addressed include converting existing equipment, building bio-based value chains, and ensuring market relevance for new products. Greenfield (new site) projects are not eligible.

• Must retrofit existing biorefineries or fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield sites in Europe.
• Must implement innovative and sustainable biomass conversion processes.
• Must demonstrate production of bio-based chemicals/materials (TRL 8) and their conversion into end-products (TRL 6+).
• Must focus on cascading valorization of residual streams.
• Must exclude food and feed ingredients.
• Must establish a full value chain with biomass providers and include workforce upskilling/reskilling.
• Greenfield (new site) projects are not admissible.

Examples:

• A fossil-based chemical plant in Germany retrofits its equipment to produce bio-based plastics from agricultural residues.
• An existing biorefinery in France upgrades its processes to convert wood waste into high-value bio-based adhesives.
• A brownfield site in Italy transitions from fossil fuels to producing bio-based solvents, while training its staff in new technologies.

• Personnel costs
• Subcontracting
• Travel and subsistence
• Equipment (depreciation or rental)
• Consumables and materials
• Dissemination and communication
• Access to research infrastructure
• IPR and certification
• Audit costs
• Indirect costs (25% flat rate)
• Internally invoiced services

• Budget for this Call: 172,137,258€
• Number of Grants attributed: 1
• Budget for the grant: 20,000,000€

• Applicants must be located in Europe.
• Projects must retrofit existing biorefineries or fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield sites.
• Greenfield (new site) projects are not eligible.
• Projects must establish a full value chain, including collaboration with biomass providers.
• Applicants must address workforce upskilling or reskilling.
• Applicants must exclude food and feed ingredients from their project scope.
• Eligibility may require forming networks or partnerships to cover the value chain.
• Further details may be found in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide and relevant work programme annexes.