Setting the course for aviation and marine biofuels

Aviation and marine transport have a direct effect on global greenhouse gas emissions and air quality.
The BioSferA project aims to mitigate this impact through the development of innovative and high performing biofuels.
That is why the project aims to develop a costeffective production method of sustainable aviation and maritime fuels, by combining different technologies.
The project started in 2020 and will be completed by 2024. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions and after one year since the beginning of the project, the project’s first results have been achieved.
This technical scheme in Figure 1 shows the full concept of BioSFerA. Biogenic residue and waste will be converted in two industrial fermentation steps after being gasified.
The first fermentation step will convert syngas, obtained from gasification, into acetate.
This will be fed to the second fermenter where microorganisms will convert the acetate to microbial lipids.
Microbial lipids are molecules similar to vegetable oils or animal fat, and can be further treated by hydrotreatment in a process similar to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) production.
Conversion...