Project description
Turning waste into climate-positive maritime fuels
Can shipping decarbonise without overhauling existing fuel systems? The EU-funded SEAFAIRER demonstrates how residual biomass can be transformed into sustainable marine fuels compatible with today’s refinery infrastructure. Using decentralised pyrolysis units, the project converts waste streams (from rice husks to agave residues) into intermediate biofuels, biochar and syngas. The approach not only delivers high-energy fuels for immediate blending with conventional marine fuels, but also supports future pathways towards fully drop-in alternatives. By combining circular resource use with scalable processing technologies, SEAFAIRER aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with EU maritime targets while creating added value from waste and strengthening Europe’s transition to climate-neutral shipping.
Objective
The aim of the SEAFAIRER project is to demonstrate, at Technology Readiness Level (TRL 7), the production of improved intermediate biofuels followed by processing in existing refinery infrastructure to deliver climatepositive drop-in biofuels for maritime transport. The feedstock (biogenic waste residues) will be transported in short distances to decentralised vertical intermediate pyrolysis-based reactor (VINTER) units. The SEAFAIRER project will collect, characterise and process 3 different residual biomass feedstocks: (i) rice husk from the Valencia region, Spain; (ii) biowaste sieving material from Bavaria in Germany; and (iii) agave bagasse from southern Mexico. These feedstocks have been strategically selected from exclusively fair and residual sources without indirect land use change (iLUC) issues. The VINTER unit will convert the biomass through a single-stage intermediate pyrolysis and post-reforming process into three main products: biochar, raw oil (intermediate biofuel) and syngas. The high-quality biochar is suitable for European Biochar Certification (EBC) as carbon sink with vast agricultural and industrial applications. The carbon sink will play a crucial role to achieve the climate targets of the maritime transport sector. At commercial scale, the intermediate biofuel, which has a high energy density (approx. 32 to 36 MJ/kg), branches out into two market entry pathways that leverage existing refinery infrastructure: Pathway A is designed to cover the immediate biofuel needs of the industrial maritime shipping sector, which is under considerable regulatory pressure and has strict GHG reduction/decarbonisation targets, such as the ones set out in FuelEU Maritime. This pathway will target direct blends (B10 to B30) of intermediate biofuel (VINTER raw oil) on par with Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) according to the ISO 8217:2017 quality thresholds for marine fuels (cf. Table 4). Pathway B targets the medium- to long-term demands of the maritime industrial shipping sector. In this case, the intermediate biofuel will be upgraded via hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), targeting higher blending capacity up to pure drop-in fuel quality (B50 to B100), on par with Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) according to the ISO 8217:2017 quality thresholds for marine fuels.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials biofuels
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.5.2 - Energy Supply
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-01
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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.
2800 Kongens Lyngby
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.