On 8th and 9th January 2026, a workshop on lignocellulosic biorefineries was held in Maribor, Slovenia, organized by the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Maribor, and led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Petrovič and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lidija Čuček.
The workshop brought together research groups from Maribor and Osijek, which are jointly implementing two projects – VALREO and GENESIS. The Osijek research group consisted of Prof. Dr. Marina Tišma, Dr. Ida Zahović and assistant Laura Hanić from the Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, University of Osijek, and Dr. Jelena Parlov Vuković (Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb).
The VALREO project is funded by the Croatian Science Foundation and the Agency for Research and Innovation of the Republic of Slovenia. It explores the possibility of transforming existing vegetable oil industries into biorefineries by converting process residues into new products with added value and energy. The GENESIS project is an Erasmus+ initiative focusing on the development and integration of new and innovative green and digital educational materials in the field of engineering. The project aims to prepare future engineers for the challenges of the green and digital transition.
As part of the workshop, a visit to the Lek (Sandoz) pharmaceutical factory in Lendava was organized on January 8th. A consortium meeting was also organized on the same day to discuss key events and results of the project and future project activities. In addition, future calls and funding programs for further joint research collaboration were discussed.
On January 9th , the 3rd VALREO workshop was organized to present the latest developments in the production of bioproducts from lignocellulosic biomass, with an emphasis on the importance of circular use of biomass and the integration of sustainable processes to create value-added products. The workshop also addressed the assessment of the environmental impact of processes and end products and the advanced use of NMR technology for the characterization of lignocellulosic materials.