FUELPHORIA at the ETIP Bioenergy Stakeholders Plenary Meeting

On 12 March, the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP Bioenergy) held in Brussels its 12^th Stakeholders Plenary Meeting. It was the occasion to bring together major experts in the sustainable bioenergy and biofuels from academia, industry, civil society and policy.

The event aimed to discuss about the deployment of bioenergy and biofuels for the competitiveness of the EU, to learn about results from EU-funded projects on biomass supply and conversion, and to hear about civil society’s views on biomass for energy and fuels.

A distinguished series of speakers took the stage to provide insightful perspectives on a series of urgent issues that the bioenergy sector must tackle. Among the main topics touched by the speakers, the problem of scaling up the deployment of the renewable fuels in the transport sector was explored, and Horizon Europe projects’ representatives offered their contributions with relation to a series of aspects, such as, advanced and sustainable feedstock cultivation, techno-economic and environmental dimensions of aviation and marine biofuels, as well as the integration of biotechnology and thermocatalytic processes for SAF production.

In this context, FUELPHORIA was one of the relevant research and innovation projects, which featured in the experts’ presentations. Maria Georgiadou, Senior Expert of DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission, included FUELPHORIA as one of the examples of EU-funded projects, which prove to the growingly crucial role of biofuels in contributing to the reduction of emissions in the transport sector, while increasing the EU’s industrial competitiveness and employment. The FUELPHORIA project coordinator, Kostis Atsonios of the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), provided an overview of the BioSFerA project, which ended last year and aimed at the development and validation of a novel biorefinery concept that combines thermochemical and biochemical processes for the production of hydrotreated triacylglycerides (HTAGs), as next generation aviation and maritime biofuels. This presentation – which included techno-economic and environmental considerations of that pathway – was the opportunity to make a link between BioSFerA and FUELPHORIA. The focus was put in particular on the Belgian demonstration plant, which aims to employ microbial oil hydro processing and esterification to produce liquid biofuels, such as paraffinic fuel and biodiesel using as feedstock biogenic CO₂ from biogas plant.

It was an intense day of discussion and networking opportunities with experts and stakeholders from the bioenergy sector, whose growing relevance was highlighted not only in the field of transport, but also regarding energy security and defense.

See below the Kostis’s presentation and some photos of the event.

For a full summary of the event and all presentations see here: 12th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting: key highlights and slides – ETIP Bioenergy