Out with the old and in with the new — EU project launched for renewable solvents

A €4.3 million European Union project that is focused on replacing traditional fossil-based solvents with novel, renewable alternatives has been launched and will be led by the University of York.

ReSolve — ‘Renewable solvents with high performance in applications and improved toxicity profiles’ — is set to last three years and will seek out alternatives to substances categorised as very high concern (SVHC) under European REACH regulation. Particularly, the project will focus on replacements for the toxic solvents toluene and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), creation of an additional pipeline of bio-based solvents, establishment of a toxicological safety testing strategy and evaluation of possible production processes of the most advanced bio-based solvent candidates.

“As producers of biosolvent Cyrene, we are delighted to participate in a project focused on developing more non-toxic, bio-based alternatives,” explained Tony Duncan, CEO and co-founder of Circa Group. “Our Furacell platform is one of two core technical streams which will demonstrate and produce new, renewable solvents for ReSolve. We are looking forward to collaborating with our project partners and we are keen for ReSolve to be a success story which will enable the EU to further promote the benefits of biosolvents.”

Circa Group are a part of the project consortium, which also comprises 11 partners from five different countries.