flexJET, Sustainable Jet Fuel from Flexible Waste Biomass, has just been awarded the most innovative EU Biotech project at the KETBIO Booster Conference on 17 June 2020. James Hygate, founder and CEO of Green Fuels Ltd, “virtually” presented the project to the European biotech stakeholder community.
More than 300 EU-funded biotech projects were screened for their potential for commercialization. Interviews of 79 projects were conducted and the projects analysed more deeply, taking into account factors such as target markets, TRL, industry involvement, IP situation and more. The assessment of the best-ranked projects was complemented with an evaluation by a KETBIO’s Commercial Committee for the final selection of the KETBIO Top Ten. This commercial committee consisted of senior representatives from industry, investors and research institutions with expertise in technology transfer and commercialization from across EU member states.
KETBIO’s Virtual Booster Conference was centred around how Biotech Innovation is integral to a green and healthy recovery of Europe in this changing world we are currently facing. At the heart of this is how the commercialisation of Biotech research can help move the world forward.
Credit: Green Fuels Research.
flexJET puts its efforts in to the research and the commercialisation of a novel route to sustainable fuels for aviation. flexJET is already constructing Europe’s first pre-commercial demonstration plant for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) exclusively from waste vegetable oil and using organic solid waste biomass, for the production of ‘Green’ hydrogen. The novel process ensures a high-quality, advanced, fully biogenic aviation fuel that is produced consistently from variable waste oils and fats. The innovative, highly scalable process combines the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel through Biofuel Refining (Green Fuels’ SABR technology, transesterification, then hydroprocessing and fractionation) for the upgrading of biodiesel from organic waste fats, with the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR®) technology providing green hydrogen for the process. The hydrogen is then separated through pressure swing adsorption (PSA). Using hydrogen from residual biomass conversion and renewable energy for the processes enables a significant reduction in the remaining CO2 footprint. Building and extending from previous framework funding the highly experienced consortium comprising research and industry aims to set the benchmark for future sustainable aviation fuels development that can be produced at both large and decentralized scales economically, whilst simultaneously addressing social and environmental needs. A subsequent scale-up first commercial plant is planned to be constructed immediately after the project completion to produce 25,000 tonnes per year of sustainable aviation fuel. 2 Winning this prestigious KETBIO Award is a great privilege and will help accelerate the market uptake of flexJET project results and facilitates progressing the technology further by developing a flagship plant with the overall aim of supporting the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.
It is possible to follow the project development and news through the website, www. flexjetproject.eu, and the twitter account, @flexjetproject.
Project partners
The consortium brings together some of the most renowned scientific departments, applied research institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises in the renewable energy sector, particularly in terms of bioenergy studies and the development of relevant projects in Europe. Partners from 5 different European countries include: University of Birmingham (Project Coordinator), Sheffield University, Green Fuels Research Ltd, Sterling Power Ltd, WRG Europe Ltd (UK), University of Bologna, ETA-Florence Renewable Energies (Italy), Fraunhofer Umsicht (Germany), Hygear BV, SkyNRG (The Netherlands) and LEITAT (Spain). From 2018 until 2022, this conjoined effort will make use of the precious assistance of valuable experts in charge of advisors.
Contact Point University of Birmingham: Dr Miloud Ouadi, Principal Investigator and Project Co-ordinator, Email: ouadim@bham.ac.uk
Contact Point ETA-Florence: Ing. Stefano Capaccioli, Project Dissemination Team Email: stefano.capaccioli@etaflorence.it
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 792216.
Disclaimer
The content of this press release cannot be considered as the European Commission’s official position and neither the European Commission, flexJET project consortium nor any person acting on behalf of these organisation is responsible for the use which might be made of it. Although flexJET project endeavours to deliver a high level of service, no guarantee can be given on the correctness or completeness of the content of this press release and neither the European Commission, flexJET project consortium are responsible or may be held accountable for any loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the content of this press release.
