Advanced biofuels represent an important piece of the puzzle in the EU’s quest for climate neutrality as they contribute to decarbonising transport sectors and decrease the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels. Fuels-C aims to contribute to this quest by increasing the availability of two liquid and two gaseous advanced biofuels for maritime and road transports, produced from biogenic organic wastes and CO2. Fuels-C will develop an integrated platform of innovative energy-efficient conversion technologies validated at TRL5 including bioelectrochemically assisted CH4 production, bioelectrochemical NH3 production, gasification, microbial electrosynthesis, and electroreduction. Various biogenic residues (biodegradable and non-biodegradable) will be converted under mild conditions into CH4, NH3, formic acid and ethanol, by two main production routes, using renewable energy, thereby enabling efficient energy surplus storage as chemicals. The 4 biofuels can be used as drop-in, but Fuels-C will also test them in FCs for electricity production: gaseous NH3 and CH4 in SOFCs, liquid ethanol and formic acid in DLFCs. Power density, energy efficiency and stability of each process will be validated. The technologies will be modelled at process level, for the description of interfacial phenomena, and at system level, leading to an integrated processes Digital Twin. This second model, together with a feedstocks mapping tool, will provide relevant data for circularity assessment, cost calculation, benchmarking and replication in other relevant use cases. This is expected to create new businesses opportunities and strengthen the EU's leadership in science and technology and in the biofuels market. Fuels-C gathers an interdisciplinary consortium composed of EU’s prominent RTOs and Universities, a large industry providing feedstocks and four SMEs contributing to market uptake and global outreach. It will be supported by an international Advisory Board providing strategic advice.

Carbon neutral, high-energy density e-fuels are crucial to de-fossilize long-haul transport. Mildly oxygenated compounds such as C5+ (higher) alcohols and their ether derivatives hold the promise to overcome limitations of known e-fuels, such as non-oxygenated Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbons or heavily oxygenated methanol and DME, but no process exists for their effective production. The project aims to develop a disruptive route wherein CO2, water and renewable power are converted to higher oxygenate e-fuels in a once-through hybrid process integrating three major catalysis branches: “electrocatalysis” is applied in a robust high-pressure CO2/H2O co-electrolysis step to produce e-syngas (H2/CO), which is converted in a single-reactor, slurry-phase process combining “solid thermocatalysis” for linear hydrocarbon synthesis and “molecular chemocatalysis” for in situ oxo-functionalization via reductive hydroformylation. In this process, integration of catalytic functionalities in tandem, alongside an engineered interfacing of high- and low-temperature conversion steps and energy unintensive membrane separation technologies, offer a blueprint for superior atom and energy efficiencies. The project will demonstrate the new e-fuel production process at bench-scale, and assess its capacity to cope with fluctuating energy inputs. Moreover, e-fuel formulation and life-cycle aspects are covered to fully realize the potential of the higher oxygenate e-fuel to distinctively unite excellent combustion properties (high cetane), exceptional reduction of tailpipe soot emissions, advantageous logistics as liquid at ambient conditions and compatibility with current-fleet fuel infrastructure and engine technologies, with emphasis on applications as diesel replacement in heavy-duty marine transport. An exploitation plan will be created together with international stakeholders, to consolidate EU’s capacity to export advanced e-fuel technologies to areas with vast green energy potential.

The overall goal of IDEALFUEL is to enable the utilization of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as maritime fuel in a sustainable manner. IDEALFUEL aims to develop an efficient and low-cost chemical pathway to convert lignocellulosic biomass into a Bio Heavy Fuel Oil (Bio-HFO) with ultra-low sulphur levels that can be used as drop-in fuel in the existing maritime fleet. This will be achieved by the strategy to first extract lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as a Crude Lignin Oil (CLO) and to convert the CLO - in a second chemical step - into a Bio-HFO. The solid cellulose fraction, which will be separated from the CLO via simple filtration, can be used in the pulp and paper industry or converted into ethanol. Hemicellulose will either be separated from the CLO or end up in the Bio-HFO. IDEALFUEL’s ambition is to develop new technologies, solutions and processes from the current lab-scale (TRL3) via bench-scale (TRL4) to pilot scale (TRL5) and to prove the performance and compatibility of the Bio-HFO over the whole blending range in maritime fuel systems and marine engines. This includes a safety evaluation, which is necessary for the approval by the relevant regulatory bodies. Further, IDEALFUEL will prove the techno-economic potential to reach a cost level of 700 € per tonne in 2025, 600 € per tonne in 2030 and < 500 € per tonne beyond 2030 resulting from optimisation, scaling effects of larger plant sizes and repetitive installations. This is cost competitive with Ultra-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (ULSFO) which current, 2019, price level is 450-550 €/ton. IDEALFUEL will also carry out a Well to Propeller impact assessment and Life Cycle Analysis to check and proof the soundness of the environmental, society and sustainability aspects of the to be developed technologies, processes, products and logistics.

BioSFerA aims to develop a cost-effective interdisciplinary technology to produce sustainable aviation and maritime fuels. Thus, biogenic residues and wastes will be gasified and the syngas will be fermented to produce bio-based triacylglycerides (TAGs). Bio-fuels will be produced via TAG hydrotreatment. The overall process, combining thermochemical, biological and thermocatalytic parts is based on the gasification of biomass and other biogenic waste in a Dual Fluidized Bed gasifier and the 2-stage fermentation of the produced syngas. Through this process the syngas is converted to acetate (1st stage) and then the acetate is converted to TAGs (2nd stage). The produced TAGs contained medium and long fatty acids are hydrotreated and isomerized after the necessary separation and purification and the end-products are jet- and bunker-like biofuels, respectively. BioSFerA aims to evolve the proposed technology from TRL3 to TRL5. In the TRL3 phase, extensive lab scale tests will take place in order to optimize the process and increase its feedstock flexibility in terms of non-food bio-based blends. The best acetogenic bacterial strain will be identified based on its tolerance to syngas contaminants. Moreover, oleaginous yeasts will be genetically modified to convert the acetate derived from the first stage into C14 and C16-18 TAGs. Then, building upon lab tests, the pilot scale runs (TRL5) will investigate the overall process. At least two barrels of Hydrotreated TAGs will be produced as drop-in biofuels for aviation and marine. By exploiting the synergies between biological and thermochemical technologies, BioSFerA achieves a total carbon utilization above 35% and a minimum selling price <0.7-0.8 €/l. A process model of the overall BioSFerA process will be developed exploiting the know-how gained during piloting and used for realistic up-scaling calculations. Finally, techno-economic, market, environmental social and health and safety risk assessments will be performed.

GHG emissions reduction policies to mitigate climate change heavily impact on energy intensive industries, leading to loss of employment and competitiveness. In addition, variable renewable generation faces high risks from electricity curtailment if renewable surplus is not used. Carbon capture and utilisation technologies that make use of industrial flue gas and renewable surplus will play a key role in the clean energy transition of industry. Various technologies exist but most are still quite demanding in terms of materials and energy, being costly and inefficient. CAPTUS key objective is to demonstrate sustainable, cost-effective and scalable pathways to produce high-added value energy carriers by valorising industrial carbon emissions and integrating renewable electricity surplus. To this end, 3 complete value chains will be demonstrated at 3 different demo-sites: (i) Bioprocess based on a two-stage fermentation to produce triglycerides in a steel plant, (ii) Lipids-rich microalgae cultivation followed by hydrothermal liquefaction to produce bio-oils in a chemical plant, and (iii) Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to produce formic acid in a cement plant. The proposed technologies will be tested at TRL7, and the obtained energy carriers will be validated by upgrading studies. CAPTUS will also validate solutions regarding economic, environmental, societal and geo-political criteria, contributing to the development of novel business models, guidelines and strategies. CAPTUS has been structured in 8 WP, combining R&D activities, project management and demonstration activities. CAPTUS addresses this complex challenge by gathering a competitive consortium of 18 partners from 8 EU countries. Overall, CAPTUS innovations at technical, economical, managerial and social level will enable the consolidation of CCU technologies within 3 EII key sectors and leverage their benefits by reducing carbon emissions, increasing renewables share and producing valuable energy carriers