URBIOFIN is an innovation project funded by the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the EU Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by “Industrias Mecánicas Alcudia S.A., (IMECAL S.A.)”. The aim of the URBIOFIN project is to demonstrate techno-economic and environmental viability of an integrated and innovative biorefinery for the transformation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) into new marketable bioproducts, chemical building blocks, biopolymers and additives.

Today, in Europe, each inhabitant generates in average 0.5 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year. Around 40-50% of it corresponds to organic waste. This organic fraction mainly contains carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which are all useful raw materials that can be converted to valuable products. Its valorisation will help to solve environmental pollution, but also contribute to the transition from a linear to a renewable circular economy. Digestion and composting have contributed to the reduction of the biodegradable fraction of MSW sent to landfill. However, the low economical value of compost and biogas is limiting the sustainable implementation of separate sourcing systems. New bio-based products obtained from waste treatment can contribute to the environmental and socio-economical sustainability. Therefore, the aim of URBIOFIN project is to demonstrate the techno-economic and environmental feasibility of the conversion at semi-industrial scale (10 T/day) of the organic fraction of MSW into: Chemical building blocks (bioethanol, volatile fatty acids, biogas), biopolymers (polyhydroyalkanoate and biocomposites) or additives (bioethylene, microalgae hydrolisated for biofertilisers). By using the biorefinery concept applied to MSW, URBIOFIN will exploit the organic fractions of MSW as feedstock to produce different valuable marketable products for different markets like agriculture and cosmetics.

The URBIOFIN Consortium is composed of 16 recognized key actors on the topics of Waste management, Bioprocessing technologies (industrial processes relying on biological agents to drive the process), Bioproducts (products that are manufactured using biological material as feedstock) and Biomaterials, Biofuels, Municipal Solid Waste, industrial processes and integration.

  • Industry: IMECAL S.A., URBASER S.A., BIOMASA PENINSULAR S.A., EXERGY Ltd, Novozymes A/S, G.I. Dynamics B.V., VISUM Ltd, NATUREPLAST SAS, BCM BioEconomy Cluster Management GmbH, SES STEFANY EMBALLAGES SERVICES, NATRUE AISBL
  • Research Organisations: ainia, Wageningen University & Bioresearch, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, IRIAF (CLAMBER Biorefinery)
  • Universities: University of Valladolid

More details you will find here: https://www.urbiofin.eu/about/at-a-glance/ or in the attached leaflet