The Hamburg-based start-up EveryCarbon, a spin-off from the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), has secured a further €2.5 million in funding in the Circular Biomanufacturing Challenge organised by the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations (SPRIND). The young company intends to use the funding to further develop its technology for the bio-based production of high-performance polymers from organic waste streams and scale it up to market maturity.
EveryCarbon uses organic residues to produce a so-called platform chemical, i.e. a central building block for sustainable high-performance polymers, with the aid of microbial processes. The team's vision is zero-waste production, in which waste materials become the starting point for new materials.
"What began as an idea on paper – that waste management and chemical production could one day go hand in hand – is now a functioning process,’ says the EveryCarbon team. After intensive development work, the start-up was able to demonstrate that the technology works in its own mini-plant. Funding from SPRIND now enables the next step: the transition to continuous production, testing new waste streams and initial customer trials.
EveryCarbon is one of only a few teams to have made it through to the current SPRIND Circular Biomanufacturing Challenge. The aim of the challenge is to promote innovative biotechnological processes that can replace fossil resources in industrial production in the long term.
In addition to TU Hamburg, numerous partners are involved in the project, including the University of Hamburg (Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry), Fraunhofer IPA, IMDEA Energía, TMI, IUE, TVT, LFKW Büsnau and the company Valensina.
‘The support from SPRIND is a strong signal for the bio-based industry in Germany,’ emphasises the team. ‘We look forward to working with our partners to lay the foundation for truly circular materials – and to make every carbon count.’
