With a focus on the environmentally friendly, sustainable production of green plastics, the PERFORM project consortium has taken up the problem of minimizing the environmental impact of the chemical sector. In a pilot-scale Power Platform that will show the viability of two significant environmentally beneficial chemical processes, this will be accomplished by using bio-based raw materials and clean, renewable electricity.

The flagship test bench, constructed by Hysytech and featuring an electrochemical reactor with a total stack surface area of 1 m2, arrived at TNO facilities at the beginning of May. The cell stack was tested up to a current density of 200mA/cm2 after a fruitful site-acceptance test that was carried out at TNO in the presence of Hysytech engineers.

This marked a significant advancement in the PERFORM project. In the upcoming months, pilot experiments with industrial-grade feedstock – oxidation of furfural paired with levulinic acid reduction will commence. Upscaled paired electrolysis in the PERFORM reactor will subsequently be optimized to reach the project target of producing at least 6kg of bio-based product per day.