The Rural BioReFarmeries (RBRF) project is rethinking how we can build local, circular and sustainable value chains for bio-based products. By focusing on small-scale and decentralised green biorefineries, the project aims to unlock the potential of rural areas across Europe — reducing waste, boosting local economies and supporting the EU’s green transition.
To successfully achieve the project’s mission, the 19 partners that conform the RBRF consortium are joining forces across 8 work packages. This article focuses on Work Package 3 (WP3), led by Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
WP3 in a nutshell
Title: Bio-based Fibre and Packaging Development and Validation
WP Leader: Rommie van der Weide, WUR Application Centre for Renewable Resources (ACRRES).
What if the grass growing in Europe’s fields could become the next generation of sustainable packaging? That’s the question at the heart of WP3, which is focused on transforming the fibrous by-products of green biorefineries into bio-based materials for packaging — while also exploring how process side streams can be repurposed to grow valuable algae.
Key objectives
WP3 is driven by three main goals:
- Optimising the processing of green biorefinery pulp and low-quality grasses to produce high-quality fibres for packaging.
- Developing and validating bio-based packaging prototypes using these grass fibres in collaboration with industry.
- Exploring how process side streams can be reused to cultivate microalgae, contributing to circular agricultural systems.
Main tasks and technical activities
To achieve these objectives, WP3 is organised around the following tasks:
- Optimised production of grass fibre: Testing and refining the treatment of different grass types and pulp streams to extract fibres suitable for bio-based applications.
- Grass fibre packaging materials: Working with PaperFoam to produce and validate sustainable packaging prototypes that increase the proportion of grass-derived fibres.
- Algae cultivation using side streams: Assessing how brown juices and digestate — the nutrient-rich liquid by-products from biorefineries — can be used to grow microalgae for use in circular agriculture, with support from AlgaNed.
A collaborative effort
The WUR team is working closely with other RBRF partners to bridge the gap between agricultural residues and market-ready products.
Dutch company PaperFoam plays a key role in prototyping innovative, lightweight packaging materials using the extracted grass fibres. Meanwhile, algae-focused biotech company AlgaNed is partnering with WUR to explore how liquid process side streams — such as brown juices and digestate from grass — can be reused to grow high-value microalgae.
On the academic side, Munster Technological University and Aarhus University are also heavily involved in WP3 by providing grass fibres and juices directly from the Irish and Danish demo sites, respectively.
Expected outcomes
WP3 will deliver:
- A detailed report on grass processing methods for producing fibres suited to bio-based packaging.
- A report assessing the suitability of different grass feedstocks for packaging applications.
- New insights into how process residuals can be reused, including the production of algae for agricultural or bio-based use.
By turning low-value grass residues into high-performance fibres and exploring ways to reuse process waste streams, WP3 is helping to uncover the full value of green biomass, which will result in the creation of packaging alternatives and bio-based innovations that are aligned with Europe’s sustainability and circularity ambitions for a resilient bioeconomy.
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