Objectives & benefits
1. To organise and master the European activity in the area of FDCA-based chemicals, products and materials to target scientific, technical and industrial solutions towards sustainable furan-products market introduction and improving simultaneously human capital qualification.
2. To promote cross-sectoral cooperation of polymer scientists and general materials developers with industrial stakeholders to develop products with an applied vision.
3. To develop novel technologies for the synthesis of FDCA and related monomers, starting from widely occurring non-edible alternative sources of starting sugars, mainly agro-forest byproducts, such as those rich in cellulose fibres, which are a non-exhaustive source of D-glucose; or pectin rich sources from agroforest byproducts.
4. To synthesise novel furan-based polycondensates using FDCA or derivatives and other renewable-based monomers.
5. To identify the main economic obstacles, market demands, supply chain challenges, environmental hotspots and also the legislative restrictions that need to be considered so as to ensure a successful introduction of FDCA and its materials in real applications.