A consortium including 17 partners from Denmark and other European countries has received more than DKK 30 million (=EUR 4,034,478) from Innovation Fund Denmark for their project ‘Low Carbon fuels for aviation and marine markets’, aiming to commercialize the production of sustainable fuels for aircraft and ships.
Sustainable fuels have been identified as a possible solution for reducing CO2 emissions from heavy traffic, such as aviation and shipping and, therefore, the consortium focuses on the technical and economic challenges of producing and marketing sustainable fuels for both sectors.
The goal is for the project to provide technical data, business models and implementation scenarios for a range of value chains, ranging from input materials in the form of organic household waste and agricultural residues to the finished and ready-to-market fuels, and including quantified GHG reductions and sector coupling, especially the exploitation of green hydrogen and circular exploitation of resources.
As part of the green transition, it is important to take advantage of our opportunity to use biowaste and residual biomass to produce sustainable fuel, not least for those parts of the transport sector that are not easily electrified. We see great potential in technology and are proud to be part of a consortium that covers the entire value chain, which is crucial for the success of both technological and market breakthroughs,
…says Jeppe Grue, Technical Director, COWI.
The basic technology, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), is being demonstrated in Norway, and the project builds on this by focusing on the refining processes themselves and the finished fuels.
We see a potential in developing technology to process HTL oils into fuels on the Danish market. We have recently been certified to be able to refine bio-oil products, and this is an exciting new step,
…adds Technology Manager, Kristen Kristensen at the Shell Refinery in Fredericia.
Aircraft and marine fuels are very different, and although both can be produced based on HTL bio-oil, the technical path to market is very different, meaning that the refining processes must be optimised for each. Ship fuel does not require such a high degree of refining as for aviation, but a number of quality requirements are still set for engines and fuel systems to be able to handle the new fuel.
For both types of fuels, the project will carry out tests in the relevant engine technologies – jet engine and diesel engine – to demonstrate the fuels’ viability in practice.
Overall budget of the project is estimated at DKK 42.9 million. The project consortium includes: Steeper Energy ApS (Denmark), COWI A/S (Denmark), Aalborg University (Denmark), Aalborg Airport (Denmark), Aarhus Airport (Denmark), Billund Airport (Denmark), DCC & Shell Aviation Denmark (Denmark), Aalborg Harbour (Denmark), Aarhus Harbour (Denmark), Alfa Laval A/S (Denmark), A/S Dansk Shell, AP Møller-Maersk (Denmark), Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR, Germany) , IFP Energie Nouvelles (France), Greenfuelhub (Switzerland), SkyNRG (Netherlands) and Energy Cluster Denmark.
Steeper Energy ApS, which is in the process of building the world’s first HTL plant in Norway to produce bio- oil at scale from residual fractions from forestry, is participating as a technology supplier in the project.
Aalborg University, which has recently demonstrated a “prototype jet fuel” from wastewater sludge, participates as a knowledge partner and host of a big HTL pilot plant operated in collaboration with Steeper Energy ApS that can convert wastewater sludge, wood residues and organic household waste into bio- crude oil.
In the field of marine fuel, Alfa Laval provides expert knowledge and advanced test facilities for testing fuels.
There is huge potential in developing sustainable fuel for the transport industry. First, it’s about identifying the technological challenges and barriers in getting the technologies to market, and then to overcome those barriers through innovation projects that deliver concrete results. We are looking forward to tackling this task, and not least to disseminating the results from the project so that we can raise funding to get the solutions out to the market,
…notes Glenda Napier, CEO of Energy Cluster Denmark.
