June 16, 2026 — Covestro has kicked off the Bio4PURConti (Continuous Biobased Production for a Sustainable Polyurethane Industry) project and acts as the coordinator of this pioneering EU-funded initiative. The project aims to develop the world’s first continuous production process for biobased aniline. Aniline is a critical raw material for the plastics and chemical industries, primarily applied in the production of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), which serves as the core building block of polyurethane materials.
Globally, fossil-based aniline production generates approximately 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. To effectively cut the carbon footprint of aniline manufacturing, Covestro adopts specially engineered microorganisms in its biobased production process. These microorganisms convert industrial sugars derived from plant biomass into intermediate products via fermentation. In the subsequent chemical catalytic step, the intermediates are further processed into aniline with 100% carbon sourced from renewable plant materials.
Continuous Fermentation Process: A Groundbreaking Technological Breakthrough
The Bio4PURConti project seeks to drive further technological upgrading. Unlike the conventional fed-batch fermentation method that involves staged raw material feeding and product harvesting, this project pioneers the application of continuous fermentation technology. Leveraging plant sugars (such as sugars extracted from hardwood biomass), it establishes a full production pathway based on renewable feedstocks.
The produced biobased aniline is fully compatible with the existing polyurethane value chain and can act as a direct drop-in replacement for fossil-based counterparts. It fully meets MDI product specifications without requiring any adjustments to downstream manufacturing processes. Therefore, it acts as a powerful driver for industrial defossilization, bringing far-reaching impacts that extend beyond the chemical sector.
The project will scale up the production process from laboratory scale to a 1.5 cubic metre semi-industrial demonstration scale. Demonstration operations will be carried out at two sites: the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, Belgium, and Covestro’s production site in Leverkusen, Germany. The project will also integrate core technologies including cell recycling, real-time process analysis and downstream processing. Its key objectives include boosting the space-time yield of the production process and drastically reducing the product carbon footprint (PCF).
Dr. Markus Dugal, Head of Process Technology at Covestro, commented: “Bio4PURConti is a landmark project, not only for Covestro and the global aniline market, but also for the entire industrial biotechnology sector. Realising semi-industrial scale continuous fermentation for bulk chemicals such as aniline will set a new benchmark for what biotechnological processes can achieve in the chemical industry. The large-scale integration of biology and engineering will fundamentally transform the way we manufacture essential materials that underpin modern society.”
Cross-European Consortium to Consolidate EU’s Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology
The project consortium consists of 10 partners across seven European countries, bringing together top-tier industrial enterprises and academic research institutions. The full list of partners includes: Covestro Deutschland AG (Germany), Fibenol Imavere OÜ (Estonia), University of Stuttgart (Germany), Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant VZW (Belgium), Zentrum für Entwicklungsberatung und Systeme Dortmund (ZEDO, Germany), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Norway), Axel'One (France), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, CLIB Industrial Biotechnology Cluster (Germany), and Asociación Española de Innovación en Marketing Sostenible e Inversión (AEIMIS, Spain).
With a total budget of 8.4 million euros, the project receives 7 million euros in funding from the European Union and runs for a period of 42 months. All consortium members are committed to jointly slashing the product carbon footprint of future aniline products. As one of the world’s leading aniline manufacturers with an annual production capacity exceeding 1 million tonnes, Covestro boasts unique inherent advantages in advancing the sustainable transformation of global aniline production.
