CIRCULAIR

Achieving climate neutrality in Europe requires large volumes of sustainable fuels for transport sectors like aviation. The EU-funded CIRCULAIR project will design an integrated pathway that produces cost-effective aviation biofuels based on hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of abundant agricultural residues. Key innovations of CIRCULAIR involve a close thermal coupling of HTL conversion with exothermic wet oxidation of the HTL process water. The project will also develop innovative approaches to upgrade HTL biocrudes to jet fuel and accelerate the approval of HTL fuels for civil aviation. Coupling with green hydrogen generation enables almost complete biomass utilisation and yields methanol as a main by-product. Furthermore, CIRCULAIR will close a knowledge gap regarding utilisation of HTL solids for soil amendment and carbon sequestration.