Dyadic International, a global biotechnology company focused on enzymes and other proteins, announced that its R&D center in the Netherlands, a member of the multidisciplinary research consortium Bio-Mimetic Project, has been awarded a $4.4 million grant from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Community for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities.

The European consortium is commencing a three year research project titled, “New Bio-Inspired Processes and Products from Renewable Feedstock” which will employ environmentally-friendly technologies to convert the renewable agricultural waste stream, lignin, into high value sustainable commercial products such as adhesives, detergents and cosmetics.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with such fine organizations on a highly innovative project where we can demonstrate the efficacy and productivity of our C1 technology to use green chemistry to find commercial applications for lignin,” Wim van der Wilden, general manager of Dyadic Netherlands. “If successful, this project will be a promising step forward in using this renewable waste stream to replace traditional toxic, expensive and high energy consuming processes.”

As part of the Bio-Mimetic Project, Dyadic Netherlands will receive approximately $500,000 to develop enzymes using Dyadic’s patented and proprietary C1 platform technology to degrade and modify lignin so that it can be used to create these high value commercial products.

Procter & Gamble Technical Centers will serve as the coordinator of the Bio-Mimetic Project Consortium which includes: Fraunhofer Institute (Germany); The University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy); MAVI Sud (Italy); Gulgi B.V. (The Netherlands); Compagnie Industrielle de la Matiere Vegetale (France); Procter & Gamble Eurocor (Belgium); CiaoTech (Italy); and the University of Manchester (U.K.).