H2020 completed projects

Demonstration of Waste Biomass to Synthetic Fuels and Green Hydrogen (TO-SYN-FUEL)

 

Total Budget: EUR 14,511,922.50
EC Budget: EUR 12,250,528.13
Duration: 2017-2022
Lead partner: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft e.V., Germany

TO-SYN-FUEL will demonstrate the conversion of organic waste biomass into biofuels.

The Project implements a new integrated process combining Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR©), with hydrogen separation through pressure swing adsorption (PSA), and hydro deoxygenation (HDO), to produce a fully equivalent gasoline and diesel substitute (compliant with EN228 and EN590 European Standards) and green hydrogen for use in transport .

The Project consortium has bought together the leading researchers, industrial technology providers and renewable energy experts from across Europe, in a combined, committed and dedicated research effort to deliver the overarching ambition. Building and extending from previous framework funding, this project is designed to set the benchmark for future sustainable development and growth within Europe and will provide a real example to the rest of the world of how sustainable energy, economic, social and environmental needs can successfully be addressed.

The Project will be the platform for deployment of a subsequent commercial scale facility. This will be the first of its kind to be built anywhere in the world, processing organic industrial wastes directly into transportation grade biofuels fuels which will be a demonstration showcase for future sustainable investment and economic growth across Europe. This first precommercial scale deployment of the technology will process up to 2100 tonnes per year of dried sewage sludge into 210,000 litres per year of liquid biofuels and up to 30,000 kg of green hydrogen. The scale up of 100 of such plants installed throughout Europe would be sufficient to convert up to 32 million tonnes per year of organic wastes into sustainable biofuels, contributing towards 35 million tonnes of GHG savings and diversion of organic wastes from landfill. This proposal is responding to the European Innovation Call LCE-19.

Consortium:

  • Fraunhofer Gesellschaft e.V., Germany
  • ENGIE Services Nederland NV, Netherlands
  • Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Italy
  • ENI S.p.A., Italy
  • University of Birmingham, UK
  • ETA – Energia, Transporti, Agricoltura SRL, Italy
  • Acondicionamiento Tarrasense, Spain
  • Susteen Technologies GmbH, Germany
  • WRG Europe Ltd, UK
  • Verfahrenstechnik Schwedt GmbH, Germany
  • Hygear Technologies and Services BV, Netherlands
  • N.V. Slibverwerking Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Sustainable Jet Fuel from Flexible Waste Biomass (GreenFlexJET)

 

Total Budget: EUR 11,137,232.51
EC Budget: EUR 9,999,732.51
Duration: 2018-2023
Lead partner: The University of Birmingham, UK

FlexJet will build a pre-commercial demonstration plant for the production of advanced aviation biofuel (jet fuel) from waste vegetable oil and organic solid waste biomass (food waste), successfully demonstrating the SABR-TCR technology (traditional transesterification (TRANS) and Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR) combined with hydrogen separation through pressure swing adsorption (PSA), and hydro deoxygenation (HDO) and hydro cracking/ isomerisation (HC)) to produce a fully equivalent jet fuel (compliant with ASTM D7566 Standards). This project will deliver respective environmental and social sustainability mapping and it will validate a comprehensive exploitation business plan, building on already established end user interest with existing offtake agreements already in place with British Airways. The project plant installed at the source of where the waste arises in BIGA Energie at Hohenstein (Germany) will produce 1,200 ton of jet fuel from 3,482 tonnes of dried organic waste and 1,153 tonnes of waste vegetable oil per year. A subsequent scale-up first commercial plant would be constructed immediately after the project end to produce 25,000 tonnes per year of aviation fuel. The FlexJet project consortium has undoubtedly bought together the leading researchers, industrial technology providers including airline off takers and renewable energy experts from across Europe, in a combined, committed and dedicated research effort to deliver the overarching ambition. Building and extending from previous framework funding this project is designed to set the benchmark for future sustainable aviation fuel development and growth within Europe and will provide a real example to the rest of the world of how sustainable aviation biofuels can be produced at both large and decentralised scales economically whilst simultaneously addressing social and environmental needs.

Consortium:

  • The University of Birmingham UK 
  • Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V., Germany 
  • Alma Materstudiorum - Università di Bologna, Italy
  • Susteen Technologies UK Ltd, UK
  • Wrg Europe Ltd, UK 
  • Green Fuels Research Ltd, UK 
  • Hygear BV, Netherland 
  • Biga Energie Gmbh & Co. KG, Germany
  • Eta - Energia, Trasporti, Agricoltura Srl, Italy
  • Skyenergy BV, Netherland
  • Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Associacion, Spain
  • Susteen Technologies Gmbh, Germany
  • The University of Sheffield, UK

Sustainability Transition Assessment and Research of Bio-based Products (STAR-ProBio)

 

 

Total Budget: EUR 5,306,371.50
EC Budget: EUR 4,983,871.50
Duration: 2017-2020
Lead partner: Unitelma-Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

STAR-ProBio constitutes a multidisciplinary and multi-actor collaborative project that will meet environmental, social and economic challenges, paving the way for a much-needed sustainability transition towards a bio-based economy.

The overall objective of the project is to promote a more efficient and harmonized policy regulation framework, needed to promote the market-pull of bio-based products. This will be achieved by developing a fit-for-purpose sustainability scheme, including standards, labels and certifications for bio-based products. To this aim, an integral part of STAR-ProBio will be the adoption of life-cycle methodologies to assess the roll-out of bio-based products.

Environmental assessment will be performed, through LCA, in a circular economy framework (with a focus on end-of-life analysis) looking at issues which emerge upstream and downstream the value chain. This will be complemented by a techno-economic assessment and by a social impact assessment conducted through stakeholder analysis, SLCA, surveys and field experiments.

Indirect land use change issues (ILUC) will also be addressed from an environmental, economic and social perspective.

The analysis of selected case studies on (1) construction materials, (2) bio-based polymers, and (3) fine chemicals, will ensure that the approach is not too broad and theoretic, allowing the benchmarking against non bio-based products. Hence, STAR-ProBio will integrate scientific and engineering approaches with social sciences and humanities-based approaches in order to formulate guidelines for a common framework promoting the development of regulations and standards to support the adoption of business innovation models in the bio-based products sector.

Consortium:

  • Unitelma-Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
  • University of York, UK
  • Technische Universitaet Berlin, Germany
  • Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  • Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum Gemeinnuetzige GMBH, Germany
  • SQ Consult, Netherland
  • Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Italy
  • Uniwersytet Warminsko Mazurski W Olsztynie, Poland
  • ChemProf, Poland
  • Quantis Sàrl, Switzerland
  • NOVAMONT, Italy
  • Swedish Environmental Protection Agency - Naturvardsverket, Sweden
  • Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • European Environmental Citizens Organisation For Standardisation, Belgium
  • agroVet, Austria