Project to demonstrate advantages of synthetic fuels
© SIGAUS

Project to demonstrate advantages of synthetic fuels

The To-Syn-Fuel project is set to demonstrate the production of synthetic fuels and green hydrogen from waste biomass.

The European Commission’s Renewable Energy Directive for the post-2020 period (RED II), introduced in December 2016, presented a gradual phase-out of conventional biofuels and set a minimum target for advanced biofuels for transport.

12 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), industrial, and scientific partners, co-ordinated by Fraunhofer Society for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology (Fraunhofer UMSICHT), are participating in a new research project which will build up, operate and demonstrate the production of synthetic fuels and green hydrogen from waste biomass. The project will be built and extended from previous framework funding and is designed to set the benchmark for future sustainable development and growth within Europe.

Dr Robert Daschner, head of the renewable energy department at Fraunhofer UMSICHT and project management officer, said: “In this project we want to produce green diesel from waste, which in this particular case will be sewage sludge.

“In the next four years we will build-up, operate and demonstrate the technology and by the end of the project we want to have a business case for green fuels in order to support the targets of the European Commission”.

Professor Dr Andreas Hornung, director of Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Sulzbach-Rosenberg added that the project would stimulate a major change in behaviour in the future use of green fuels and sustainable fuels.

The T cell receptor (TCR) technology developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT produces renewable liquid fuels from waste biomass, which can replace fossil fuels.

The objective is to demonstrate and validate the technical and commercial viability of this integrated approach.

The project has a total duration of 48 months from May 2017 to April 2021 and will be funded under the Horizon 2020 programme.