Boosting pre-commercial production of advanced aviation biofuels

Proposal will demonstrate pre-commercial production of sustainable and cost-competitive advanced biofuels for aviation for boosting their market up-take. Proposals will address large-scale production of aviation biofuels from non food/feed sustainable feedstock and through certified pathways according to international aviation fuel standards and thus suitable for commercial flight operations. 30 to 50 thousand tonnes of aviation biofuel and continuous plant operation of 1000 hr within the project will be included.

Proposals are expected to bring the technology from TRL 5 to 7 (please see part G of the General Annexes).

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 15 to 20 million would allow this challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

The aviation transport sector is growing fast and is expected to be responsible for more than 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Advanced biofuels achieve direct emission reductions and, as drop-in fuels, are the most attractive alternatives for reducing the carbon foot-print of aviation in the long-term. Due to the absence of a market, the specific challenge is to boost commercial availability of advanced biofuels for aviation. This challenge is in line with the specific targets for commercialization of advanced biofuels identified in the Declarations of Intent in the context of the SET-Plan[[https://setis.ec.europa.eu/implementing-integrated-set-plan/renewable-fuels-and-bioenergy-ongoing-work]].

The supported projects are expected to facilitate the market entry and increase the commercial capacity of advanced biofuels for aviation. In particular, it is expected that pre-commercial plant(s) for advanced biofuels for aviation will be accomplished and the deployment of their technologies will allow the competitive production of biojet fuels on a commercial scale.