Project description
Biofuels from organic waste as a new bioenergy source
The EU-funded CARBIOW project will develop novel technologies to exploit new hard-to-utilise bioenergy sources for biofuels production in line with the Green Transition and circular economy targets. The organic fraction of municipal solid waste and residues from biorefinery and biological processes will be converted to aviation (kerosene) and marine (light alcohol blend) fuels. Torrefaction will convert very heterogeneous and wet organic waste to high-quality solid biofuel. Then, the torrefied organic waste will be converted to CO2 and clean syngas (H2 + CO) via oxygen-blown gasification technology with oxygen carrier-aided systems with very high efficiency in terms of energy and yield. The syngas will be converted to biofuels while a stream of CO2 will be used in the synthesis of cement-based materials.
Objective
CARBIOW project addresses green transition and circular economy by proposing novel technologies that cover the whole process of conversion of organic waste to biofuels. On one hand, hard-to-utilize organic waste such as organic fraction of municipal solid waste and residues from biorefinery and biological processes are utilized to highlight a new bioenergy source. On the other hand, new technologies will be developed from TRL 2 to 5. The proposed technologies via CARBIOW enable Europe to take the lead and advancement in several fields of energy generation and energy sector decarbonization. Moreover, energy security, economical boost, local energy independenc,e and job creation are addressed. Torrefaction as an emerging technology converts the very heterogeneous and wet organic waste to a high-quality solid biofuel. Besides, torgas will be combusted with oxygen to generate energy for torrefaction, and to obtain nearly pure CO2. A novel technology i.e. oxygen-blown gasification in oxygen carrier aided systems will convert the torrefied organic waste to clean syngas with very high efficiency in terms of energy and yield. The syngas will be used in the Fischer-Tropsch process with a novel reactor and novel 3D printed catalysts aiming to produce aviation (kerosene) and marine (alcohols) biofuels. The CO2 from the oxy-conversion steps will be fixed in the resulting ashes from the same process via carbonization to make cement-based product. So, CARBIOW addresses another goal that is the decarbonization of cement industry, while making the biofuels to be carbon negative. The diversity and strength of the experts within the consortium of CARBIOW will guarantee the technological, technical, and societal advancement of what is proposed, most importantly, the exploitation and perspective of the whole process will be evaluated by the leaders and industrial sites to pledge the feasibility of the scale-up and further development of the proposed process.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsliquid fuels
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbiofuels
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
20009 DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN (GIPUZKOA)
Spain