pHYBi

The pHYBi project aims to link the production of high-yield biomass in degraded and polluted soils, following phytomanagement practices, with a complete biomass extraction and valorisation process for lignocellulosic fractions (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) through a sustainable process. The main objectives include:

• Investigating and monitoring existing and newly implemented pilot phytomanagement sites.
• Testing, optimising, and validating a set of phytomanagement strategies based on woody and herbaceous industrial crops in selected field sites at TRL 5.
• Optimising the valorisation process and characterising its end applications for market uptake.
• Deploying a virtual replication tool for simulating the phytomanagement process in other European territories and connect the biomass producers with the biorefinery industry.
• Proving the technical, economic, social, and environmental feasibility and positive impact of the pHYBi processes.
• Characterising and applying lignocellulosic fractions to create a well-planned market route for the potential end-applications in the textile industry.

The pHYBi’s results will directly contribute to:

• Increasing the potential for growth on degraded polluted land for two types of high-yield feedstocks: woody feedstock (poplar, birch, and willow) and herbaceous/fibre feedstock (Miscanthus and hemp).
• Enhancing knowledge on sustainable options to extract and recover added value compounds as well as on the processing of biomass into high-value products.
• Developing breakthrough scientific knowledge on characteristics and quality of biomass grown on contaminated and salt-affected soils, as well as in areas such as agronomy, plant physiology, bioinformatics, microbiology, etc. related to phytomanagement systems.
• Developing guidelines, recommendations, thresholds, and restrictions related to the utilised biomass in the form of specific case studies.
• Improving the environmental condition of post-industrial and other relevant areas affected by soil contamination or salinity, in view of their future reconversion to other uses (agriculture, recreation etc).
• Significantly contributing to the objectives of the R&I mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, expecting to reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration, while reducing the EU global footprint of feedstock provision for the bio-based economy by using land that does not compete with food crops.
• Increasing the availability of high-yield feedstock by unlocking the potential for cultivation in polluted soils; showing proven technical and economic feasibility of feedstock valorisation.
• Advancing restoration of polluted and salt-affected soils through environmentally-friendly strategies.
• Bringing together a multidisciplinary team with experts in plant and soil science, chemical engineering and biorefineries, computational science, textile materials and products, agroindustry, and market analysis for knowledge exchange and social innovation.