Biobased economy

In the biobased economy, crops and waste streams from the food industry and agriculture are used for non-food applications, e.g. to produce building materials, chemicals, fuels and energy. Such a biobased economy is sustainable, offers economic opportunities and creates many new possibilities in agriculture, for example.

However, the turnaround to such a different economy is not easy. It requires a lot of research. Take the construction industry. This is a major consumer of materials and raw materials. This makes the sector responsible for about a third of total CO2 emissions. Currently, most building materials are not reusable. Not enough thought is given to reuse after the lifetime of a structure.

Biobased raw materials

Researchers and entrepreneurs can change this and, for example, make building products based on (renewable) biobased raw materials. Much of this kind of research can take place in JRCZ, for example in the biobased building lab.