LOGAN - Local crops as raw material for biocides

Regulations surrounding the use of biocides in industrial applications and for private use are becoming increasingly stringent. The health of the user, biodegradability of the product, effects on surface and groundwater and toxicity to organisms other than the target organism are gaining importance in the approval of new biocides. These factors create a growing demand for biocides of natural origin.

In the LOGAN project, the Sustainable Industry Research Centre wants to explore the possibilities of using extracts of local crops as biocides. Leaves, roots, stems, ... of different local crops are extracted and the biocidal activity of the extracts is tested directly, without further purification. The focus is on fast-growing crops (e.g. nettle, thistle, dandelion) and plant residues from agriculture. Only green/sustainable extraction methods will be used during the project, being aqueous extraction and extraction with supercritical CO2.

The whole value chain is represented in the project, from companies planting and harvesting the crops over firms performing extractions on an industrial scale to companies selling biocides to end users. Crop selection is done in consultation with project partners and resonance group members.

The project results are compiled in information sheets that indicate per crop the yield of the crop per hectare, how much of the crop is available locally each year, the optimal extraction method and the exact application of the extract (fungicide, bactericide, larvicide, insecticide, rodenticide, ...). These sheets serve as a link between the different companies of the value chain.