Circa Group joins ReSolute Horizon 2020 project for biobased solvent

In the United Kingdom, biotech company Circa Group is leading the consortium for new EU project ReSolute – a flagship Horizon 2020 project set to develop the first commercial plant to produce Cyrene a new, biobased, sustainably-sourced, safer alternative to traditional, fossil-based solvents.

Building on previous Horizon 2020 project ReSolve, the project will build a flagship plant to create levoglucosenone (LGO), a chemical building block which can be used to produce bio-based solvent CyreneTM in one step. The plant is expected to reach a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes of CyreneTM per year, using feedstock from non-food renewable biomass.

ReSolute brings together 12 partners from 6 countries and it will provide new manufacturing and employment opportunities in product manufacture and downstream conversion in Europe.