Abstract
(Englisch)
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SUSTAINEXT is led by Natac and brings together 21 partners from Europe and Spain, 7 of them from the Extremadura region. The
project will start in June 2023 and will last four and a half years. In summary, the technological objective of the project is to implement
on an industrial scale a digital, dynamic, versatile, disruptive and multi-product biorefinery, with a processing capacity of 20,000 tonnes
per year and following a NetZero Carbon strategy. This first-of-its-kind flagship will transform the plant-based ingredients sector, while
showcasing and deploying a first-of its kind model likely to be replicable by the whole European bio-based industry. SUSTAINEXT aims
to transform Natac's current production plant, located in Hervás in the north of Extremadura, into the most modern, digital, innovative
and sustainable plant extracts factory in the world, placing the company and the region at the forefront of the sector at a global level. The
model is based in the integration of the whole supply chain - from feedstock to end users - applying a disruptive circular model based on
a smart dynamic analytical biorefinery (DYANA): a smart dynamic biorefining process for the cascade valorisation of feedstocks which
is optimized batch-wise according to the initial composition of the feedstock to deliver maximum value with minimum environmental
impact and ensure resource efficiency. DYANA will allow to achieve the complete valorisation of the processed feedstock with a zerowaste
and zero-emissions ambition. SUSTAINEXT will be industrially deployed with six sustainably and locally sourced European
feedstocks. Three medicinal and aromatic crops (rosemary, camomile, and lemon verbena) will be cultivated in Extremadura in disused
tobacco fields as an alternative towards healthier crops, and also between solar panels (agrivoltaics) enhancing soil use. Three agroindustrial
side streams (olive, artichoke/cardoon, and pomegranate) will showcase how biomass upcycling represents an opportunity to
give a new life to certain underexploited bio-based feedstocks. SUSTAINEXT flagship will deliver 46 plant-based healthy extracts and
functional ingredients out of which 13 are totally new on the market and 12 are newly produced in Europe. It will generate a revenue of
271 M€, will create more than 5,000 new green jobs (direct and indirect) and will have a decisive socioeconomic impact in Extremadura.
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