Afbeelding
To meet the Netherlands' climate and circular targets (the Netherlands fully circular by 2050), the chemical sector needs to make major sustainability improvements in the coming decades. Chemical processes must be more energy-efficient and the "feedstocks" preferably from renewable raw materials and/or CO2, resulting in lower CO2 emissions.
A consortium, consisting of SPRONG members Hanzehogeschool, NHL Stenden Hogeschool and Zuyd Hogeschool and the University of Groningen, will further shape the bio-based transition together with governments and industry.
Reason
The missions described within KIA Energy Transition and Sustainability "reducing national greenhouse gas emissions and "a sustainably driven fully circular economy (2050)", the chemical industry in (Northern) Netherlands is at the start of a drastic transition. This transition requires reducing the sector's energy consumption, optimising processes (less energy/CO2 and circular) and reducing dependence on abiotic/petrochemical raw materials.
To achieve this, intensive cooperation is needed between business, government and knowledge institutions. In the current SPRONG application, the consortium aims to join forces to contribute to the desired transition.
The Northern Netherlands is a region ideally suited to play a pioneering role in making chemistry more sustainable, and knowledge institutions play an important role in this. These are not only suppliers of talent/human capital but also active in developing new and improved technologies for converting renewable raw materials/CO2 into products and materials.
What problem does the project solve?
Given the complexity of the transition, cooperation between knowledge institutions and with industry/government is essential. The clustering of disciplines, increasing the quantity and optimising the quality of research and educational programmes of the SPRONG consortium is going to make a significant contribution to making chemistry more sustainable and thus achieving the climate goals. Besides the technical aspects, the social aspects of the biobased transition are also very important for its social acceptance.
The cooperation will result in making the chemical sector more sustainable and linking it to the agro and energy sectors. Agricultural residues (biomass) and CO2 will be converted to chemical intermediates for the plastics industry, among others, via new or improved routes. By replacing current petrochemical-derived products, CO2 emissions are greatly reduced.
However, the challenge of linking "agro and energy (including electricity, H2 and CO2)" to the chemical sector in an economically attractive and environmentally friendly way is complex, multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral.
At the end of the project period, there should be a SPRONG consortium that has reached an internationally recognised level, publishes jointly and is often involved/invited to participate in European consortia. The group has an appealing and clear research profile (fundamental and applied) that attracts and is seen by students nationally and internationally and is among the focal points of the strategy at all knowledge institutions involved.
Who is the project team?
The Sprong members are Hanze, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences.
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen further belongs to the Sprong consortium.
The SPRONG consortium has all disciplines (chemistry, biochemistry, polymer chemistry, etc.) to drive the biobased transition with a combination of fundamental and applied research.
How is the project team tackling this?
The SPRONG route strengthens the cooperation between the knowledge institutions involved and is implemented in (joint) educational programmes, also open to the business community.
The consortium aims to create new economic activities and employment from the knowledge institutions with the business community on the subject of biobased transition. The focus of the application is on the Northern Netherlands region, partly because almost all conditions to realise the biobased/circular transition are present there.
Cooperation with other regions in the Netherlands is guaranteed through the participation of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. At the end of the project period, a centre of international stature will have been formed that patents/valorises results, publishes in leading journals (preferably open access), successfully participates in international and regional cooperation programmes and is approached by companies with questions on the theme of making the chemical sector more sustainable.
From different phases, the objectives are worked on in periods of 1-4 years and 4 years thereafter (a total of 8 years). The phases are:
Profiling: for each project and its (sub)activities, the substantive expertise of SPRONG members is deployed
Professionalism: researchers with considerable knowledge and expertise are deployed to achieve the objectives. The knowledge centres, institutes and lectorates of the SPRONG Group all pursue strategic policies, including personnel policy, which are elaborated in multi-year plans and annual plans. At Hanze University, this is aimed at building a research pyramid, the job house of researchers: from lecturers at the top to a broad base of students and junior researchers. There is a clear vision of the future development of job houses
Quality: the SPRONG Group and its track-record monitor and guarantee quality on and take care of data management and Open Science according to current guidelines.
Impact: the SPRONG Group maps the impact and knock-on effects of research in education and practice.
The research pathway has a duration of 4 years in the first phase, and has a number of subpaths with clear intended outputs and results.
Methodologies are used to measure and make visible the impact of practice-based research. This is mapped qualitatively and quantitatively for professional practice and society, education, and research (output, knowledge development, product development and innovations, resulting in impact on individuals and partnerships.
The universities of applied sciences involved have an explicit standard for good research. Based on this, discussions are held on the quality and progress of the research. The research groups apply the four-eye principle in this respect.
At the universities of applied sciences, it is customary to visit each research unit every six years. These independent visitations not only examine whether the research carried out is of good quality; they also look at how the knowledge centres and Centres of Expertise organise and guarantee research quality assurance. In addition, the professorships are evaluated every four years.
Data management takes place according to the research data policy that aims to make relevant data FAIR available. Prior to research, a data management plan (DMP) is drawn up, which describes the planning, collection, storage, reuse and archiving of research data for all researchers involved.
Main/preliminary results
Profiling
At the end of the project period, there should be a SPRONG consortium that has reached an internationally recognised level, publishes jointly and is often involved/invited to participate in European consortia. The group has an appealing and clear research profile (fundamental and applied) that attracts and is seen by students nationally and internationally and is among the focal points of the strategy at all knowledge institutions involved. The SPRONG consortium (minus Zuyd University of Applied Sciences) is part of the University of the North and is one of its core subjects. The group works closely with the regional business community, which is internationally oriented, to accelerate the sustainability of the chemical parks in the northern Netherlands but should also be of interest to (large) companies that want to make their product portfolio more sustainable. Through Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, alignment and exchange takes place with complementary and overlapping developments in other regions.
Professionalism
In the coming years, a sustainable job house for the universities of applied sciences should be further shaped with PhDs and postdocs working in "applied sciences".
The aim of the three universities of applied sciences involved is to have formed research groups consisting of 15-25 FTEs by the end of the project period.
The alignment research-education of lecturer-researchers should be further optimised. Furthermore, project management at the SPRONG Group must be strengthened. This will be done through internal training and/or attracting external people. Cooperation between the members of the SPRONG consortium should result in further professionalisation of the research groups. Start-ups from the knowledge institutions will be actively supported (Venture lab, etc.) to increase the chances of success.
Quality
The cooperation between the research groups of the universities of applied sciences and the RUG will strengthen the quality of research within the SPRONG group in the coming years. Exchange of knowledge and personnel will provide a quality boost resulting in a strong academic group focused on the development of early-stage ideas and concepts (RUG) and at the colleges in application-oriented research at the academic level.
To achieve the intended growth into an internationally recognised group with impact for the chemical industry, it is important to maintain/improve the quality of research at a high level but also to propagate this with publications, contributions to conferences, etc. In the context of quality optimisation, it is very important to achieve the agreed deliverables/milestones within collaborations.
The SPRONG Group will continue to implement research in education programmes in the coming years.
Impact
The SPRONG consortium will make a major contribution to making the chemical sector (North Netherlands) more sustainable and meeting the climate targets set by the government.
For the Northern Netherlands, this should result in making the chemical parks in both Eemsmond and Emmen more sustainable, making the region internationally attractive, generating start-ups and exploiting economic opportunities.
Currently, the Northern Netherlands is also working on setting up a portal consisting of a team of experts (project management, financing, legal, marketing, etc.) to develop projects aimed at sustainability in a fast and efficient way.
Besides contributing substantively to the biobased transition, the SPRONG group is also important for training the "human capital" for the transition. To this end, research will be properly implemented in educational programmes.
Project partners
The SPRONG application builds on the knowledge and expertise already present within the knowledge institutes and aims to further align the institutes' research in the biobased field, further implement it within education and valorise it. The SPRONG consortium works directly with the (regional) business community, also through the important stakeholders in this field (see figure 1). This fits perfectly with the line to work more closely together in the field of research and education around a number of regional transitions (including the transition from linear to circular economy and from fossil to sustainable energy) under the name University of the North
The Sprong stakeholders are Province of Groningen, Province of Fryslan, Province of Drenthe, Groningen Seaports, Bio Cooperative, Chemport Europe, NOM and Samenwerkende Bedrijven Eemsdelta.
Industry is also involved with companies such as BASF, Avebe, Nouryon, Nedmag, Cliq, Friesland Campina, Lubrizol and others.
Furthermore, it has a strong interaction with the Chemelot cluster in Limburg, a chemical cluster that is also very active in the biobased/circular transition. Through Zuyd University's participation, knowledge is shared between "North and South" and cooperation between different regions is secured. Through the participation of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, knowledge is shared between "North and South" and cooperation between different regions is secured.
