Biocon

In short: Biocon is a KU Leuven scale-up facility in the field of sustainable chemistry. We bring lab innovations closer to the market through process development and product application testing in collaboration with universities and industry. A bit longer: Biocon is a unique scale-up facility to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable circular bio-economy. It bridges the gap between lab validation and commercialization by bringing emerging chemical technologies and carbon circularity solutions to the pilot scale. Currently the platform focuses on upscaling of the lignin-first biorefinery technology, which has been invented by researchers from the Center for Sustainable Catalysis and Engineering (CSCE). This new technology enables the efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (wood, grasses, agro side streams) into high-value renewable carbon sources for the chemical industry. Biocon produces demonstrator product samples and provides them to (industrial) partners for a broad range of applications (e.g. aromatic polymers and additives, agrochemicals, specialty fibres, sustainable fuels). Operating from a brand new pilot facility at TRANSfarm, the platform will gradually be further extended with advanced pilot scale equipment for e.g. process intensification, downstream separations and product synthesis. BIOCON provides its unique infrastructure and knowhow as a reliable partner in industrial joint developments as well as in international multi-partner R&D projects.