FIRST2RUN was the first flagship biorefinery to receive CBE JU co-funding, with a grant of about €17 million awarded in 2015 and a project period that ended in June 2019. Led by Novamont, it set out to show that dry, low-input crops grown on arid and marginal land could supply a fully integrated biorefinery, and that this first-of-a-kind value chain could work at industrial scale technically, economically and environmentally.

Since completion, the plant has kept building on that foundation. It now supplies a growing range of bio-based chemicals under the Matrilox brand, including high-purity acids for premium market segments, a blend of carboxylic acids, glycerine and a range of esters. Novamont has also developed further proprietary technology that extends the use of the cardoon crop beyond the seed oil alone.

The biorefinery was created by converting a former petrochemical site in Porto Torres into an integrated green chemistry complex, as part of a combined investment of around €500 million. For chemical producers and regions with legacy petrochemical assets, it is presented as a reference case for industrial reconversion, in which a flagship investment co-funded at EU level anchors new bio-based activity on an existing industrial site. The capacity and investment figures are those reported by CBE JU.

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