Projecte europeu LIBERATE «Enfocament a la biorefineria de lignina mitjançant flux electroquímic»: cap a l’electrificació de les biorefineries químiques Authors Carlos Troyano Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Òscar Alonso Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Oriol Angurell Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Marc Belenguer Marcel Boerrigter Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Miguel González Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Sonia Matencio Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Ángel M. Valdivielso Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Keywords: Lignin, electrochemistry, flow chemistry, biorefinery. Abstract The European project LIBERATE aims to deliver a pilot-scale electrochemical plant to demonstrate the commercial opportunities of converting low-cost lignin feedstocks into high-value biosustainable chemicals. The project is focused on obtaining added-value products from different types of lignin and cyclohexanols coming from wood and straw. This article explains how the project is organised to achieve this goal, with the essential contributions of many academic and industrialdisciplines from different countries. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Author Biographies Carlos Troyano, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Carlos Troyano holds a Chemistry degree (2017) and Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry (2018) from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). During the academic period, his research was focused on the synthesis, characterisation and study of new water-soluble porphyrins. He is currently a junior researcher in the Applied Chemistry & Materials Department (Synthesis Group) at LEITAT Technological Center, participating in national, industrial and European projects related to organic chemistry. He has also acquired expertise in such fields as general organic synthesis, electrochemistry, sonochemistry, sol-gel technology and flow chemistry. Òscar Alonso, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Òscar Alonso is an industrial engineer specialised in Mechanics who graduated at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (final degree project at the University of California, Irvine). During the study period, he was trained in computer aided design (CAD tools) with CATIA and SolidWorks, and in automotive technologies and manufacturing processes. Òscar is the Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing area manager of the Energy and Engineering Department at LEITAT, coordinating the team and participating in R & D proposals and projects, industrial innovation and new advanced applications. His expertise is related to the fields of device design and development, mechanical design and calculation, reverse engineering, production andinspection processes in the automotive industry, and manufacturing technologies, with special emphasis on additive manufacturing and 3D printing. Oriol Angurell, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Oriol Angurell graduated in Chemistry (2019) and obtained a Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry (2020) at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). During his academic period, he investigated new synthetic strategies using hypervalent iodine in IQAC. He made a stay in the Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), measuring the glycolytic rate in the mouse brain. He returned to IQAC to carry out his master’s degree project on synthetising molecules related to bacterial quorum sensing. He is currently working at LEITAT Technological Center as a junior researcher in the Applied Chemistry & Materials Department on R & D projects. He participates in national, industrial, and European projects related to organic chemistry.He has acquired experience in flow chemistry, electrochemistry, sonochemistry and synthesis of different industrial products at laboratory scale. Marc Belenguer Marc Belenguer graduated from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in 2007. He continued his training with master’s and doctoral studies in the Laboratory of Electrodeposition and Corrosion (ElectroDep) at the Universitat de Barcelona, working with synthesis of Ni composites and synthesis of metal nanowires in alumina substrate for different uses such as biological sensors. In 2014 he moved to the École Nationale d’Ingenieurs de Tunis (ENIT), where his main concern was sol-gel coatings applying electrochemistry conditions. After obtaining his PhD in 2016, he started to work in an industrial tender assessment, involving characterisation, development, production in small-medium scale and up-scaling of coatings as per customer requirements. Now he is an R & D researcher in the Energy Storage Group of LEITAT Technological Center, working on industrial offers and participating in national and European projects for the development of energy storage devices. He has worked on printed devices and lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. Marcel Boerrigter, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Marcel Boerrigter is a senior researcher at LEITAT. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the Hogeschool Enschede (Saxion University of Applied Sciences), Enschede, The Netherlands (1996). From 1997 to 2012, he worked at the European Membrane Institute (EMI) in the Netherlands. He performed confidential contract research for companies/institutes worldwide and research in various European projects in the field of membrane science and technology. Since October 2012, he has been a senior researcher leading the Membrane Unit at LEITAT Technological Center on the investigation and development of new membranes combined with nanomaterials for gas and water purification for various European and national projects. His main competences involve membrane manufacture (flat sheet, hollow fibre and nanofibre) development and characterisation for microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), pervaporation, gas separation and electrodialysis, among other applications. Miguel González, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Miguel González holds a Master’s degree in User Experience at La Salle–Universitat Ramon Llull and a Postgraduate degree in advanced CAD at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He is a graduate in Engineering in Industrial Design at Elisava School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona. Specialised in computer aided design (CAD) and materials, he is a technical engineer of public works (specialty in civil constructions) at the Universidad de Salamanca. He is currently working at LEITAT Technological Center on R & D & I projects as a product design engineer in the Technology Integration and Product Development Department. His expertise is related to product design and development, design techniques and processes, materials, manufacturing processes, prototyping and interface design, as well as CAD, rendering and materials software. Sonia Matencio, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Sonia Matencio holds a degree in Chemistry (2009) and a PhD in Nanoscience (2015) from the Universitat de Barcelona. She is a researcher at LEITAT Technological Center in the Applied Chemistry and Materials Department, where she is involved in national and international projects in the field of membrane science and technology. Her research is focused on the development of polymeric nanofibres by electrospinning for air and water pollution, liquid membranes for metal separation, membranes for separation of lignin and other basic chemicals, and modifications of nanocellulose for water purification. Ángel M. Valdivielso, Centre Tecnològic LEITAT Ángel M. Valdivielso holds a PhD in Chemistry (2012, Universidad Complutense de Madrid). He is a senior researcher at LEITAT in the Applied Chemistry and Materials Department, in charge of the Organic Chemistry Unit. His research career has been focused on organic chemistry in different fields such as synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and supramolecular chemistry. His research currently comprises different lines in the organic synthesis area, including custom synthesis, flow chemistry and unconventional synthetic methods (mainly electrosynthesis, microwave and ultrasound) and their application to industrial services. Ángel has been involved in and coordinated several European (FP7 and H20202 framework), national (basic and applied research) and industrial projects. He has also participated in several conferences, published papers in international scientific journals, and obtained patents in the fields of organic chemistry and materialscience. 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