Western North Brabant becomes hotspot for biobased building blocks for the construction industry Buildings
Illustration TNO
21,May 2024 – Over the next 3 years, 11 partners in West-North Brabant, led by TNO, will be working together to make green building blocks with local vegetable waste streams. From grass to glue, from sugar beet pulp to paint or from wood chips to insulation foam are examples of what the B4 project – Better Biobased Building Blocks – envisions. These building blocks not only make products for the construction industry more sustainable, but also provide scratch resistance, flame retardancy or UV resistance. Besides these technological innovations, the partners in this B4 project also share knowledge with students, companies and governments to prepare them for and involve them in this raw material transition. This will transform Western North Brabant into a hotspot for biobased building blocks for the construction industry.
In the Better Biobased Building Blocks (B4) project, experts in the West-North Brabant region are sharing knowledge with the chemical industry, construction industry, students, administrators and citizens. Using technology, the project partners extract biobased building blocks from the raw materials sugars and lignin derived from tree and plant residues to make sustainable products for the construction industry, such as paint, construction boards and adhesives.
The B4 project combines the entrepreneurship, knowledge and expertise of small and medium-sized companies (Relement, Impershield, Baril Coatings, Bodewes and Progression-Industry) and larger companies (Westlake Epoxy and Worlée) with the technologies and knowledge of TNO, VITO and Avans University of Applied Sciences. The partners want to show that biobased aromatics can successfully replace fossil aromatics in at least 6 applications for the construction industry, such as coatings, composites, acrylic and epoxy resins. And that these green alternatives are not only sustainable, but also commercially attractive.
