Cost-effective production of lignin platform chemicals:
Extending the biobased chemicals portfolio
- A CBE JU funded project
- Innovation Action
- 13 partners
- 4-year duration
-
6.9 M EUR total cost
(5.4 M EUR funding)
PU thermal insulation foams
Our project partner SOPREMA is a leading provider of insulation materials for a wide range of construction applications.
PU -polyurethane – foams are lightweight and have excellent insulating qualities. They insulate both against temperature and sound, and are used in extensively in construction, but also as a cushioning material in mattresses, sofas, or vehicle seats.
Rigid PU foams have low thermal conduction and high stability, making them useful for the insulation of buildings. The polyols in PU can be partially or fully replaced with bio-based polyols, potentially improving the sustainabiliy of the sustainability of the insulation materials.
In COUNTLESS, the depolymerised lignin oil from the project partner VITO is used by the application developers at SOPREMA to synthesize lignin-based polyols.These are then tested in the PU formulation and the resulting foams analysed to check their performance.
Read also our news article from December 2025: Lignin-based polyols for PU foams – first results