Project description
A double-aimed innovative scheme enables the full exploitation of contaminated land for sustainable biofuel production
During the last decade, the challenge of management and treatment of polluted soils has been addressed through phytoremediation, a gradually evolving technology with the ability to clean up a wide variety of organic and inorganic waste efficiently and inexpensively. The EU-funded Phy2Climate project aims to validate five phytoremediation pilots in selected contaminated sites with the most common soil contaminants worldwide. Subsequently, these pilots aim to produce energy crops that will eventually feed a pilot biorefinery focused on the production of four types of clean drop-in biofuels for the road and shipping transport sectors at TRL-5.
Objective
Phy2Climate will validate 5 phytoremediation pilots in Spain (South Europe), Serbia (Balkan region), Lithuania (Baltic region), Argentina (South America) and India (South Asia) at TRL-5. The selected contaminated sites represent the most common soil contaminants worldwide. The phytoremediation pilots will produce energy crops with none indirect Land Use Change (iLUC) issues. The energy crops will feed a pilot biorefinery in Germany that combines cutting edge biomass processing technologies to produce 4 types of clean drop-in biofuels for the road and shipping transport sectors at TRL-5: EN 14214 biodiesel, ISO 8217 marine fuels, EN 590 diesel and EN 228 gasoline. Additionally, bio-coke will be also produced as substitution of petroleum coke in the metallurgical industry. A significant cost reduction in factor >5 for phytoremediation compared with common remediation techniques is target together with conversion costs of drop-in biofuel production <0,45 €/l. The global biofuel production potential of the Phy2Climate approach is estimated up to 137 million m3 per year. Furthermore, estimated specific Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation of the produced drop-in biofuels is 149% compared with the fossil equivalents, resulting in a total saving potential of 500 Mega-tones CO2eq per year. The work programme is divided in 7 work packages that are specifically designed to achieve the objectives of the project as well as to contribute to the Mission Innovation Challenge 4 and to 16 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Phy2Climate consortium unites 17 partners from 10 different countries with strong interdisciplinary expertise in the fields of project management, soil remediation & phytoremediation, advanced biofuel technologies, environmental and social sustainability, legal analysis, business development and communication &dissemination. Additionally 11 stakeholders from 8 countries and at EU level have already expressed their interest in the project by a letter of support.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsliquid fuels
- engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationphytoremediation
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energypetroleum
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbiofuels
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
1070 Wien
Austria
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.