News

27-11-2025

Bio-aromatics on the Rise: industry embraces innovative biobased aromatics

On 24 November 2025, Biorizon – the shared research center on bio-aromatics initiated by VITO and TNO – hosted the “Bio-aromatics on the Rise: Why you should get on board with this innovative biobased material” satellite event at Sheraton Brussels Airport, during Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2025. The event brought together companies, researchers and stakeholders from across the value chain to explore how lignin- and sugar-derived bio-aromatics can accelerate the shift from fossil-based to renewable, circular materials.

Why bio-aromatics matter

Aromatics are essential components in coatings, composites, insulation and many other materials, where they provide critical performance features such as durability, fire resistance and UV stability. Today, most of these aromatics are still produced from fossil resources, which raises concerns about strategic dependency, carbon emissions and chemical safety and underscores the need for renewable and safer alternatives.

Lignin- and sugar-based bio-aromatics offer a promising answer by turning underused local residue streams into high-value building blocks for advanced materials. This enables industry to improve resource efficiency, lower its carbon footprint and develop new high-performance products designed for circularity.

Evolving from concept to scale-up and industrial implementation

During the event, Biorizon co-initiator VITO presented the latest progress on safer lignin-derived aromatics, covering topics such as feedstock supply, techno-economic assessment, Safe and Sustainable by Design strategies and first material demonstrators. A dedicated session by Biorizon co-initiator TNO on sugar-derived aromatics showcased the joint development of next-generation biobased building blocks with application partners and machine learning, as well as how they establish efficient and scalable production technologies to bring these innovations to the market faster.

“It was great to host this event for such a big audience. This reflects the relevance of bio-aromatics for industry, from SME and start-ups to big companies. The feedback afterwards is much appreciated and tells us that we’re moving in the right direction.” - Roel Vleeschouwers, Lignin Horizon Manager Biorizon.

“It was very fruitful to engage with industry and research parties on our latest developments. Both our drop-in and novel biobased building block approaches resonated strongly as sustainable and potentially better performing solutions for our day-to-day applications.” - Paul Könst, Sugar Horizon Manager Biorizon

A key focus of the discussions was how to move from promising lab results to robust industrial implementation. VITO highlighted the role of the LignoValue Pilot Plant as a state-of-the-art industrial-scale facility that allows companies to upscale lignin-based innovations, develop real-world applications and test performance under relevant process conditions.

TNO presented its work on scalable production technologies for sugar-derived drop-in molecules such as maleic anhydride, phenol and adipic acid, as well its agile and productive approach for the development of novel biobased building blocks for polyesters, surfactants, coatings and adhesive applications. Together, these capabilities provide a concrete pathway for companies to co-develop and validate drop-in and novel bio-aromatic solutions that meet both performance and sustainability requirements.

Ready to innovate? Partner with Biorizon

Building on the momentum of this event, Biorizon will continue to strengthen its open innovation community and support companies through targeted R&D, pilot testing and application development programmes.

Interested in joining forces? Reach out to our Horizon Managers:

Roel Vleeschouwers, Lignin Horizon Manager Biorizon - +32 (0)4 74 94 99 09
Paul Könst, Sugar Horizon Manager Biorizon - +31 (0) 6 25 04 13 79

Thank you

Biorizon warmly thanks all speakers and participants for their time, insights and open discussions, as well as the organisers of Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2025 and our partners at VITO and TNO for their support. Together, this community is showing that bio-aromatics are no longer a distant promise, but a tangible opportunity to make materials safer, more sustainable and fit for a circular economy.