Current projects
BRISK 2
BRISK 2’s main activity is to fund researchers to access biological and thermal biomass conversion facilities across Europe. Since BRISK2 launched in 2017, access has been granted to more than 100 researchers from 30 countries (October 2019).
Funded by European Horizon 2020, BRISK2 aims to improve the success of biofuels implementation by:
- Helping to consolidate bioenergy expertise & knowledge
- Providing opportunities for international collaboration
- Fostering a culture of co-operation
- Leading to new bioenergy research activities across Europe.
FLEXI GREEN FUELS
The FLEXI-GREEN FUELS project aims to create a very flexible integrated biofuels process capable of treating multiple types of waste biomass and produce a range of marketable shipping and aviation drop-in biofuel products and valuable side-products. The integrated FLEXI-GREEN FUELS process will diversify the feedstocks that have previously been used for production of aviation and shipping biofuels. Two distinct types of biogenic waste resources are targeted, Lignocellulosic biomass (LIGN) and Organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW).
Semicontinuous organosolv pretreatment is used for the separation of cellulose and hemicellulose fractions from lignin, aiming at optimal conversion of each stream. As lipids are far superior bio-crudes towards hydrocarbon fuels, this project will develop and optimize three efficient methods to convert sugars to lipids (fungal fermentation, algae dark fermentation and lipid rich larva production), which will be further converted via advanced hydrotreatment (HDO/isomerization) to diesel range (C16-C18) alkanes. We will combine this with the utilization of furans (from pentose/hexose sugars) via condensation (C-C coupling) and hydrodeoxygenation routes to allow production of dropin aviation fuels. And with utilization of lignin fast pyrolysis via selective fractionation, hydrodeoxygenation and alkylation towards aviation fuels (C8-C17) and/or bunker type fuels (>C18).
Task Lead IEA Bioenergy Task 34 ‘Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction’ 2019-2021
Task 34, Direct Thermochemical Liquefaction has as its main emphasis overcoming barriers to commercialization of DTL of biomass for liquid fuel production. The overall objective of the Task in the 2016-2018 Triennium was be to improve the implementation and success of direct thermochemical liquefaction of biomass for fuels and chemicals by contributing to the resolution of critical technical areas and disseminating relevant information, particularly to industry and policy makers.
The scope of the Task is to monitor, review, and contribute to the resolution of issues that will permit more successful and more rapid implementation of pyrolysis technology, including identification of opportunities to provide a substantial contribution to bioenergy. This is to be achieved by the activities listed below:
- Review of bio-oil and bio-crude applications
- Bio-oil and bio-crude standardization
- Round Robin for analytical methods validation
- TEA of thermochemical liquefaction technologies
- Collaboration with other IEA Bioenergy Tasks