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SUSTAINABLE JET FUELS FROM CO2 BY MICRO-ALGAL CELL FACTORIES IN A ZERO WASTE APPROACH

Project description

Green approach to developing sustainable jet fuels

Sustainable aviation fuels offer a promising solution for alleviating the environmental impact of the aviation sector, which is vital for trade and transportation. Their implementation could lead to a significant decrease in conventional fossil fuel usage over the medium to long term. The EU-funded ALFAFUELS project aims to advance this objective by developing a direct CO2 capture and utilisation solution. The project will concentrate on creating multiple cost-efficient and sustainable technologies, including microbial production for volatile fuel precursors, valorising cell components for starch and H2 production, and upgrading kerosene-type jet fuel through photochemistry.

Objective

ALFAFUELS proposes a novel Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) production technology that can play a major role in the decarbonisation of the aviation sector by replacing conventional fossil fuels in mid and long-term. ALFAFUELS contributes to climate change mitigation, energy transition, and on the establishment of a circular bio-based economy by providing a direct capture and utilisation of CO2, by developing cost-effective and sustainable technological solutions in all process steps, and by providing integration possibilities with other sectors. The projects aim is to tackle the key challenges preventing SAF technologies to reach technological maturity and commercialisation such as the high current production cost, sustainability issues associated with their production, technological constraints (yields and efficiencies). To that end, ALFAFUELS includes targeted technological breakthroughs, such as the microbial production of a volatile fuel precursor from CO2, the upgrade to kerosene-type jet fuel molecules in ambient conditions using solar light-driven photochemistry, and the valorisation of all cell components in a biorefinery approach to co-produce starch and H2 (indirectly from CO2) as an important intermediate. The proposed technological novelties are combined with modelling approaches to maximize efficiencies, to optimize the overall process regarding cost and energy consumption and to evaluate the process with combined techno-economic and life cycle assessments. The project lifts the production technologies at TRL5, by including the design of novel cost-efficient bioreactors, pilot scale trials on real, industrially relevant CO2 streams and evaluation of the produced molecules against ASTM standards. To further accelerate the upscaling of ALFAFUELS, we analyse the systemic barriers and opportunities for the implementation of SAF technologies in Europe, using modelling tools and capitalizing from the participation of industrial end-users in the consortium.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03

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Coordinator

RISE PROCESSUM AB
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 972 978,75
Address
HORNEBORGSVAGEN 12
891 22 Ornskoldsvik
Sweden

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Norra Sverige Mellersta Norrland Västernorrlands län
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

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No data

Participants (13)

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