Development of microalgae and/or direct solar fuel production and purification technologies for advanced aviation and /or shipping fuels

Project results are expected to contribute to at least 3 of the following expected outcomes:

• Availability of disruptive sustainable renewable fuel technologies in order to accelerate the replacement of fossil-based energy technologies in aviation and/or shipping.
• Reduced cost and improved efficiency of sustainable microalgae-based and/or direct solar renewable fuel technologies and their value chains.
• Increase technology leadership, competitiveness and technology export potential of European industry in possibly game-changing microalgae and/or direct solar renewable fuel technologies.
• Enhanced sustainability of aviation and/or shipping fuels, taking fully into account circular economy, social, economic and environmental aspects in line with the European Green Deal priorities.
• Reinforced European scientific basis and European export potential for renewable energy technologies through international collaborations (e.g., the AU-EU Climate Change and Sustainable Energy partnership, the missions and innovation communities of Mission Innovation 2.0).
• Increasing the European energy security and reliability by enlarging the renewable feedstock basis for aviation and maritime fuels as well as maintaining and fostering the European global leadership in affordable, secure and sustainable microalgae-based and/or direct solar fuel renewable energy technologies.

Development of microalgae and/or direct solar fuel production and purification technologies for making advanced aviation and /or shipping fuels from microalgae and/or direct sun use a techno-economic feasible, cost-effective and sustainable option for large-scale use of microalgae-based and/or solar-based advanced fuels in aviation and /or shipping. Specific focus should be on purification of microalgae biomass and /or direct solar fuel components and delivery to advanced algae-based fuels and /or direct solar fuels for aviation and/or shipping. Acknowledging problems of culture or system contamination and the specific challenge of energy-efficient product purification, the specific techno-economic challenges of microalgae and/or direct solar fuels for renewable fuel production should be addressed with novel and innovative technologies, by taking in particular into account effects on CAPEX, OPEX, energy efficiency, GHG balance and circularity of materials and process streams. Proposals should also address systemic constraints and opportunities for scaling-up algae-based and/or solar fuel technologies.

Direct solar fuels are in this context renewable synthetic fuels made by direct conversion routes from solar to chemical energy. Photovoltaic systems with separate fuel production and hydrogen as a fuel end-product is excluded.

The sustainability and GHG reduction should be addressed on a life-cycle assessment basis including circular economy, social, economic and environmental aspects.

Projects are expected where possible to collaborate with and contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action funded under the topic HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-16

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.