TITAN will develop and validate at TRL5 the direct conversion of biogas (CO2 containing rich-CH4 feedstock) into valuable carbon materials and a H2 rich stream thanks to MW Technology heated reactors. It will also consider further valorisation to power, chemicals and fuels. TITAN has the potential to produce 0.6 Mt of green H2 in 2030 to almost 4 Mt per year from 2045 on, corresponding to the saving of 237 Mt CO2 by 2045. Major innovations are linked to: (1) the efficiency of a scaled-up MW heated fluidised catalytic reactor allowing high CH4 conversion in a single pass thanks due to direct catalyst heating (avoidance of heat transfer limitation) and the avoidance of energy intensive gas separation will make the whole process energy positive, produce H2 and/or power at competitive cost while sequestrating C leading to negative GHG emissions. (2) direct conversion of biogas by simultaneous CH4 cracking and CO2 dry reforming into H2 and solid C materials. Higher H2 yield will be obtained by converting the produced CO into H2 with an additional WGS reactor allowing H2O splitting. Based on circular economy concepts, the valorisation of the C materials will be studied for two applications: 1/ soil amendment to enhance agriculture soil properties and 2/ production of SiC materials. The long-term storage of the carbon species and their microbiological impact when released into soils will be studied. The scalability of the proposed MW heated reactor technology, together with a smart downstream process, will lead to low CAPEX that shall allow the deployment of small, delocalised biogas to power units as well as large biogas to H2 and/or chemicals/fuels units in Europe. The best techno-economic solutions will be identified with respect to plant capacities and available infrastructure. While the scope of the project will focus on the valorisation of biogas, the valorisation of methane-rich mixtures will also be studied for wider impact.

The main goal of the FertiCovery project is to analyse best available technologies for recycling fertilisers from secondary raw materials. It advises policymakers and stakeholders on alternative fertilising products, ensuring balanced nitrogen and phosphorus flows and promoting soil health and structure within ecological limits at regional and local levels. Starting from a long list of nutrient recovery (NR) and bio-based fertiliser (BBF) technologies, FertiCovery will select and describe ≥25 technologies, their feedstocks, products and applications, followed by a an assessment of technical aspects and environmental impacts of the technologies; an assessment of composition, sanitary safety and environmental impacts of the associated fertilising products; and an assessment of feedstock availability, potential for upscaling, regulatory framework, costs and social risks resulting in the market and replication potential. At the end of the project, a detailed multicriteria decision analysis report and datasheets of the 10-15 best available technologies will be available. The identification and engagement of European and international stakeholders, especially by organising 5 online/hybrid workshops and 6 physical/hybrid open forum events, will secure that information on best availability technologies is shared to a wider audience of technology providers, end users, policy makers and the scientific community. The project’s results will enable them to perform appropriate activities to removal of barriers and promoting the application of NR and BBF. This paves the way for widespread use of environmentally friendly BBFs. Society will benefit from the circular use of alternative fertilising products recovered from secondary raw materials, as they lead to lower environmental impacts on soil, water, and air quality, biodiversity and climate.

Europe could double the biogas and biomethane production by 2030 by utilising the massive amounts of animal waste available. However, despite the technological maturity and commercial availability of relevant technologies, this promising potential is still largely untapped. In this context, ALFA supports at least 50 livestock farmers in 6 EU counties (IT, DK, DE, BE, SK, EL, ES) to overcome existing barriers and viably take up biogas systems. We start by establishing regional Hubs that analyse the local framework conditions and livestock value chains, and help engage local stakeholders in co-designing our approach. Then, we enhance selected livestock farmers’ business and technical capacity by providing them with a series of demand-driven financial, business, and technical support services and organising dedicated capacity-building seminars. In parallel, we develop an Engagement Platform hosting tools that facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange among industry actors and provide credible estimations of each farm’s biogas potential, prospect profits, environmental and social impacts. Also, we improve the societal acceptance of biogas facilities amongst citizens by 25% (or above) through well-tailored awareness-raising campaigns. At the same time, we trigger the development of an enabling environment for the market uptake of biogas by formulating relevant policy recommendations and widely disseminating them to more than 60 policymakers. Finally, a monitoring and evaluation framework evaluates the performance and impact of all the above, providing us with the intel required to catalyse mutual learning across regions and contribute to creating a guide for replicating our results. Therefore, we expect a power output of 30 MWel by our supported cases / projects, leading to an increased share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption in the target countries and ultimately, saving 270,000tn CO2 and 330,000tn CO2-eq from manure management per year.

BIOMAPE (BIOmethane Market Acceleration and UPtake in Europe) aims to accelerate the production and use of biomethane across Europe, fostering market development and supporting EU’s energy transition. This objective will be achieved through three activity packages: Biomethane Certificates and Cross-border Trade; Biomethane Policy and Market Development; Biomethane Social Acceptability. BIOMAPE relates, within the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2025 on Climate, Energy and Mobility, to the Call Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply, addressing the topic HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02-10: Market Uptake Measures of renewable energy systems. The project methodology is built around four pillars: Multi-level Geographical Dimension, Social Acceptance, Policy Dimension, and Comprehensive Support and Transferability. These pillars address technical, social and regulatory challenges to drive biomethane market growth. Throughout these pillars, the project emphasises multistakeholder and multidisciplinary approaches as cross-cutting themes that ensure robust stakeholder engagement and the integration of diverse expertise at every stage. BIOMAPE will help to create biomethane registries for certificate management in five countries and facilitate cross-border trade, enhancing the transparency and efficiency of biomethane trade. By fostering improved and holistic biomethane policies, the project will contribute to increasing the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption by 2030 and beyond. A strong focus on stakeholder engagement will include participatory activities, such as workshops, site visits, and the establishment of Biomethane Social Acceptability Groups in 8 countries, to address public concerns and improve community acceptance of biomethane technologies. In this way, BIOMAPE will lay the groundwork for a robust biomethane market across Europe, fostering international cooperation and knowledge transfer with non-European countries.

The objective of BIOSURF (BIOmethane as SUstainable and Renewable Fuel) is to increase the production and use of biomethane (from animal waste, other waste materials and sustainable biomass), for grid injection and as transport fuel, by removing non-technical barriers and by paving the way towards a European biomethane market. This objective will be achieved through the following founding pillars: - National biomethane registries - Cooperation among the national biomethane registries - European mass-balancing system for biomethane - Free Market Biomethane Trade - Sustainable raw material supply - Methodology for entitlement to CO2 certificates - Regional specificities - Networking and Cooperation - Transferability of results beyond the project’s countries. BIOSURF relates, within the Work Program 2014-2015 on Secure, clean and efficient energy, to the Call COMPETITIVE LOW-CARBON ENERGY, namely the topic LCE 14 – 2014/2015: Market uptake of existing and emerging sustainable bioenergy. The qualifying ideas of BIOSURF are: • To develop a value chain analysis from production to use depending on the territorial, physical and economic features (specified for different areas, i.e., biofuel for transport, electricity generation, heating & cooling); • To analyse, compare and promote biomethane registering, labelling, certification and trade practices in Europe, in order to favour cooperation among the different countries and cross border markets on the basis of the partner countries involved; • To address traceability, environmental criteria and quality standards, so aiming to reduce GHG emissions and indirect land-use change (ILUC), to preserve biodiversity and to assess the energy and CO2 balance; to identify the most prominent drivers for CO2-emissions along the value chain as an input for future optimization approaches; • To exchange information and best practices all along Europe concerning biomethane policy, regulations, support schemes and technical standards.