Kick off meeting

Ghent, 15-16 May 2024
The Kick-off meeting of the SURFs UP project, a European project financed by the European Commission through the Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) program, took place on 15 and 16 May 2024 in the vibrant city of Gent, Belgium.
Coordinated by the non-profit SME Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (Belgium), SURFs UP project brings together 12 partners from 8 European countries, including SMEs, industries, research institutes, and universities. Its collective goal is to demonstrate optimized, cost-effective, Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) production of second-generation biosurfactants based on biobased raw materials, including hardwood (sugars and lignin from wood processing residues) and waste from regional food processing.
The SURFs UP ingredients are in total nine biosurfactants: (1) seven microbial biosurfactants: two drop-in and two new-to-market sophorolipids, one new-to-market mannosylerythritol lipid, two new-to-market lipopeptides, and (2) two new-to-market chemically produced biosurfactants from waste lignin of woodworking. These ingredients will be fully characterised (physicochemical properties) and evaluated according to the SSbD Framework criteria and ecotoxicity testing. SURFs UP, in fact, will operationalize the European SSbD framework for developing new biosurfactants and work on all aspects of social awareness and acceptance of these products by organizing consumer surveys involving managers, policymakers, and social media. Finally, a SURFs UP DEMO Plant will be built to produce microbial Biosurfactants.