The overall goal of IDEALFUEL is to enable the utilization of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as maritime fuel in a sustainable manner. IDEALFUEL aims to develop an efficient and low-cost chemical pathway to convert lignocellulosic biomass into a Bio Heavy Fuel Oil (Bio-HFO) with ultra-low sulphur levels that can be used as drop-in fuel in the existing maritime fleet. This will be achieved by the strategy to first extract lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as a Crude Lignin Oil (CLO) and to convert the CLO - in a second chemical step - into a Bio-HFO. The solid cellulose fraction, which will be separated from the CLO via simple filtration, can be used in the pulp and paper industry or converted into ethanol. Hemicellulose will either be separated from the CLO or end up in the Bio-HFO. IDEALFUEL’s ambition is to develop new technologies, solutions and processes from the current lab-scale (TRL3) via bench-scale (TRL4) to pilot scale (TRL5) and to prove the performance and compatibility of the Bio-HFO over the whole blending range in maritime fuel systems and marine engines. This includes a safety evaluation, which is necessary for the approval by the relevant regulatory bodies. Further, IDEALFUEL will prove the techno-economic potential to reach a cost level of 700 € per tonne in 2025, 600 € per tonne in 2030 and < 500 € per tonne beyond 2030 resulting from optimisation, scaling effects of larger plant sizes and repetitive installations. This is cost competitive with Ultra-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (ULSFO) which current, 2019, price level is 450-550 €/ton. IDEALFUEL will also carry out a Well to Propeller impact assessment and Life Cycle Analysis to check and proof the soundness of the environmental, society and sustainability aspects of the to be developed technologies, processes, products and logistics.

The overarching objective of the H2MARINE project is to design, build, test and validate two (2) PEM stacks generating 250 - 300 kW electric power designed for marine applications. The H2MARINE project takes a top-down approach, building on a proof of concept of two PEM stacks that are developed in the EU and Switzerland. The H2MARINE project will: Identify the requirements for the tests and conditions as well as load curves that the FC stacks will have to be tested against with the integrated knowledge of a major ship building industry (ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems) and ship owners (Cleos) representing Gaslog, Drylog Ltd. And Olympic Shipping (totaling more than 100 large ships). - Both PowerCell and EHGroup stack manufactures will benefit from a great consortium surrounding their development, testing and upscaling with unique testing facilities (Beyond Gravity, ZSW, Greenerity, University of Freiburg), industrial partners like DANA, upscaling capacities of stacks by CERTH, EPFL and novel diagnostics development by VTT. This will allow them to enhance the state of the art (SoA) of PEMFC stacks, advance and scale up the system to reach ambitious targets set in the call which will be disseminated by CLUBE member of numerous FCH projects. - Test the proposed solutions in relevant environment/ecosystem, which are designed to fully represent the actual implementation conditions. - Design the stack modules in an optimum manner for up-scaling up to 10MW power train systems. - Test several diagnostics for the stack and overall system integrity as well as for the health status prognosis of critical components. - Assess the technology and economic feasibility of the solution, in order to know its valuable end-use, which will allow the partners to research the potential market/s and identification of the best opportunities.