ABOUT US
BIOARC connects the agricultural and construction sector by developing high-performance bio-based building materials from agricultural by-products.
Bacteria are included as co-creators through a biomineralization process, to develop lightweight, fire-resistant products – such as insulation boards, construction panels, acoustic panels, and partition walls.
To ensure global scalability, the project will leverage regionally available resources like rice, wheat, sunflower, and hops, which are widely accessible not only in the EU but also in other parts of the world.
By standardizing production processes and rigorously assessing the structural, thermal, acoustic, health related, and durability properties of the materials, the project ensures consistent quality, performance and validating them in real-world construction environments.
The project takes a bioregional approach, collaborating closely with local communities, farmers, craftsmen, and industries to develop local value chains that reduce carbon emissions and promote circular economy principles.
By connecting stakeholders across four European bioregions, the project integrates a participatory design process, ensuring that the developed materials are not only environmentally sustainable but also culturally embedded and economically viable.
The project engages with the NEB hub for results and impacts, as well as contributing to regenerative design principles in the construction sector. BIOARC aims to provide scalable, cost-effective, and high-performance materials, while supporting local economies and promoting resilience against environmental and economic changes.
Our ambition is to go beyond the state of the art in the industry in these key aspects
1. This project focuses on the use of agricultural byproducts as the primary bulk content of materials to be bound using MICP. This can allow for creation of new and novel material types with unique physical and environmental properties
2. Green moulding process effectively overcomes these issues. Moulding process is standardised and separate from curing process. Curing process happens without requirement for pumping, and instead is dependent on the creation of a green body with a specified level of initial porosity.
3. This project will produce new novel materials, and then develop them into prototype scale products, with single board sizes up to 0.61×1.22m in size. Development of a modular internal wall system that makes use of these products will further prove applicability at real world scales.
4. Cresco has identified ammonia recovery and methods which may be used to mitigate the environmental risk of release of ammonia into the environment through existing industrial processes. Recovered ammonia may potentially be recycled back into urea, increasing process circularity and sustainability.
5. In addition to use the agriculture wastes as aggregates for the materials, this project will also investigate the alternative nutrient sources which can reduce dependency on costly lab grade nutrients. In addition, optimising the microbial process for faster calcite precipitation and exploring synergies with regional waste stream as alternative reactants can lower production costs.
6. This project will isolate natural MICP capable bacteria from local wastes sites, and the best performance of the isolate will be utilised in the materials development and product manufacture.
CONSORTIUM
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INSIGHTS HUB
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NEWSROOM
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