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Retrofitting of (bio)refineries industrial plants towards higher-value bio-based products

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Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking

Programme Description

The Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) is a €2 billion partnership between the European Union and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) that funds projects advancing competitive circular bio-based industries in Europe.

CBE JU is operating under the rules of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme, for the 2021-2031 period. The partnership is building on the success of its predecessor, the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), while addressing the current challenges facing the industry.

 

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-04

Call

Retrofitting of (bio)refineries industrial plants towards higher-value bio-based products

Summary

Europe is home to many industrial facilities, that are currently redundant, under-exploited, or are becoming obsolete. Their infrastructures nonetheless represent a valuable asset that can contribute to European bioeconomy when converted to biorefineries – an approach exemplified in a number of large-scale projects across Europe. Benefits of exploiting existing plants include easier permits, reduction of CAPEX and other economic and technological benefits (e.g., shorter lead times, faster implementation, fewer production time losses and lower risks compared to fully greenfield plant construction). However, significant challenges are also related to such projects in terms of conversion of industrial equipment, establishing bio-based value chains and reskilling of the workforce. Both existing biorefineries and fossil-based industrial plants on brownfield are in scope of this topic as a target of the retrofitting action. Greenfield implementation is out of scope.

Detailed Call Description

Proposals under this topic should:

  • Retrofit an existing industrial facility with innovative and sustainable biomass conversion process(es), yielding more valuable product(s) than the one(s) produced with the old process(es).
  • Demonstrate the production of bio-based chemicals and/or materials (reaching end TRL 8) and their further conversion into end-product(s) (end TRL 6 or higher) to be validated in market-relevant application(s). Moreover, proposals should also address cascading valorisation of residual streams across the value chain. Food/feed ingredients are not in scope.

In addition to the specific requirements applicable for the type of action, as described in section 2.2.3.1 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2025, proposals under this topic should:

  • As part of the Multi-Actor Approach, establish the full value chain including biomass supply and logistics, with the appropriate involvement of biomass providers, fostering the creation or enhancement of a local/regional ecosystem centred around the biorefinery.
  • Design training programme(s) for upskilling/reskilling the workforce of the retrofitted biorefinery as well as the related ecosystem workforce and test the practical implementation of such training programme(s).
  • Include a task to apply the safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) framework, developed by the European Commission. Under this context, projects are expected to also contribute with and develop recommendations that can advance further the application of the SSbD framework.

Call Total Budget

€20.00 million

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

EU Contribution: €20000000

Thematic Categories

  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Industry
  • Processing
  • Rehabilitation of Architectural Heritage
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation
  • Urban Development

Eligibility for Participation

  • Businesses
  • Legal Entities
  • Other Beneficiaries
  • Private Bodies
  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

Call Opening Date

03/04/2025

Call Closing Date

18/09/2025

EU Contact Point

https://www.cbe.europa.eu/contact

Website