LIST launches new facilities in its Greentech innovation centre

The new facilities available at the Greentech Innovation Centre will enable the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology to work on higher Technology Readiness Levels in the fields of biorefinery, water treatment and biogas production. Thanks to this pre-industrial infrastructure, LIST will be in a strong position to meet the demands of industry and to forge even more partnerships.

The Minister for Higher Education and Research as well as the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development attended the inauguration of the new facilities of the Greentech Innovation Centre, which took place on 25 July 2023. The Greentech Innovation Centre of LIST is an open innovation facility for the development of new technologies for:

1. the detection and treatment of environmental pollution,
2. the recycling of biowaste to foster a circular bioeconomy,
3. the development of bio-based products and processes of industrial interest, as for example biopesticides,
4. the implementation of new biorefinery concepts for more efficient and sustainable processes.

From lab to industrial scale

Among the new installations, the new facilities at the Greentech Innovation Centre include a platform of bioreactors with a capacity ranging from 1 litre to 300 litres that is unique in the Greater Region. The new infrastructure also allows to implement large-scale prototypes and demonstrators in the domain of bioenergy and water treatment technologies, and provides additional space for joined laboratories with industrial partners. Overall, the equipment represents an investment of EUR 2 million by LIST.

With the launch of these new facilities at the Greentech Innovation Centre, LIST is taking a major step forward in its pursuit of advancing sustainable technologies. By raising its technology readiness level, the Environmental Research and Innovation department of LIST is now able to take on more ambitious projects, work closely with industry leaders and drive significant change in the fields of biorefining, water treatment and biogas production. Innovations are typically based on industrial biotechnology, molecular biology techniques, metabolic engineering, culture of plant cell lines and microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, fungi, microalgae), anaerobic digestion, biocatalysis, green chemistry and product formulation.

More than 60 scientists and engineers can offer complementary competences to support industrial partners from the generation of an idea through laboratory and pilot stages all the way to market-ready sustainable and safer processes, substances, ingredients, and products. The Innovation Centre can also support in the optimisation of existing solutions at all steps of product and process development. Furthermore, the Greentech Innovation Centre offers vocational trainings using the state-of-the-art facilities, in collaboration with equipment providers like Innfors, Sciex, and Invitrocell.

Major partners have joined LIST Greentech Innovation Centre through different models of collaboration, including the Institut fir biologësch Landwirtschaft an Agrarkultur Luxemburg (IBLA) for the development of biopesticies; BIOROCK and Chemra in the domain of water treatment technologies; Ferme du Faascht in the domain of biomethanation, PM International for the valorisation of biowaste obtained during vine production, and Probiotic group for the development of sustainable cleaning products.

Claude Meisch, Minister for Higher Education and Research: “The major challenge is to encourage synergies between research players and the economic and social world, so that our strategy of promoting innovation has a significant impact, both environmentally and socio-economically. With its Greentech Innovation Centre, now even more efficient, LIST is once again clearly demonstrating that it not only understands this challenge but is fully committed to meeting it.”

Joëlle Welfring, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development: “The new facilities of the Greentech Innovation Centre mark the start of a new chapter in the 25-year collaboration between LIST, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, and our public authorities. The impressive facilities will accelerate the development of new environmental technologies, which are of particular interest to our businesses and public authorities, especially in the areas of energy transition and wastewater treatment. It is by sharing our knowledge that we will be able to keep pace with the many challenges posed by environmental crises.”

Lucien Hoffmann, Director of the Environmental Research and Innovation department at LIST: “Our unique state-of-the-art facilities for environmental biotechnologies research allow our partners and researchers to develop solutions from lab to industrial scale. The platform can perform a range of analytical services and relies on its instrumentation, infrastructure and know-how to offer analyses on demand. Overall, the surface area of the new facilities for the Greentech Innovation Centre comprises 1,500 m2.”

Find out more about the Greentech Innovation Centre.