REFOLUTION Project Explores Europe’s Potential for Cost-effective Biofuels
Grace is part of a consortium of 13 other partners from eight countries with preeminent expertise in the key EU sectors related to energy and transportation in the REFOLUTION project. The aim is to demonstrate the cost-effective production of advanced biofuels for aviation and the marine sector via a process that can be implemented in European refineries using existing assets. The project, funded by Horizon Europe*, may unlock the potential of biofuel processes which could save several gigatons of CO2 emissions per year.
Several factors can hamper the development of the production of biofuels, like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and low carbon intensity marine fuel, such as a complex feedstock to be processed, massive investments needed for each new refinery unit, lack of certification for market adoption, and an overall social acceptance of the biofuel production itself. REFOLUTION, however, is designed to answer these challenges by producing cost-effective biofuels in existing plants thereby boosting their market uptake. The implementation of the project’s results is expected to reduce the CAPEX by 50% and OPEX by 45%. A comprehensive toolkit of models, standards, social evaluation, and exploitation pathways for interfacing with current refinery models will be delivered by the project.
REFOLUTION’s three pillars are co-integration, co-processing, and co-refinery. The project will develop and demonstrate a novel method for turning biomass-derived pyrolysis oil (BDPO) from flash pyrolysis (FP) into enhanced biofuels by combining various co-processing technologies. To integrate with refineries for the production of significant amounts of biofuel, it will use Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) co-processing of bio-oils for aviation and marine uses and hydrotreating bio-oil for marine applications. At the same time, the project aims to help refineries become more digitalized and build cutting-edge systems for tracking green carbon throughout the entire process, enabling the optimization of renewable carbon content distribution and the confirmation of new standards.
Ambitious targets for the green transition of air and marine transportation have been established for 2050, with a blending mandate of 63% for sustainable aviation fuels and a 70% decrease in ship emissions in the EU. In line with the Green Deal's aims, the REFOLUTION initiative will help to decarbonize aviation and marine transport, guiding Europe toward a sustainable, circular, and zero-emission economy.
*REFOLUTION has received the funding of the Horizon Europe program under Grant Agreement n° 101096780.