The EU targets at replacing 10% of all transport fossil fuels with biofuels by 2020 to reduce the dependence on petroleum through the use of nationally, regionally or locally produced biofuels, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the EU is concerned with the questionable sustainability of the conventional biofuels and the unattractive production costs of second and third generation biofuels. The BioMates project aspires to contribute to the drastic increase of non-food/feed biomass utilisation for the production of greener transportation fuels via an effective and sustainable new production pathway. The project will validate the proposed innovative technology which has the potential of over 49 million tons CO2-eq savings, at least 7% crude oil imports reduction which corresponds to over 7 billion € savings for EU, while indicating its socio-economic, environmental and health expected benefits. The main premise of the BioMates project is the cost-effective and decentralized valorization of residual (straw) and nonfood (Miscanthus) biomass for the production of bio-based products of over 99% bioenergy content. The bio-based products’ targeted market is the EU refining sector, utilizing them as a bio-based co-feed of reliable, standardizable properties for underlying conversion units, yielding high bio-content hybrid fuels which are compatible with conventional combustion systems. The BioMates approach is based on innovative non-food/feed biomass conversion technologies, including ablative fast pyrolysis and mild catalytic hydrotreating, while incorporating state-of-the-art renewable H2-production technology as well as optimal energy integration. The proposed pathway for decarbonizing the transportation fuels will be demonstrated via TRL5 units, allowing the development of an integrated, sustainability-driven business case encompassing commercial and social exploitation strategy.

The ABATE project aims to upscale and demonstrate in an industrial relevant scale a complete sustainable value chain based on the integration of thermochemical and biochemical technologies for the valorization of lignocellulosic residual and non-food/feed biomass into cost-competitive, carbon-neutral Advanced Bio-based intermediATEs (ABATEs) to directly substitute fossil hydrocarbons in conventional oil refineries. The technology was validated in TRL5 via a Horizon 2020 project (BioMates), which involved a two-step valorization of lignocellulosic biomass. In ABATE, residual lignocellulosic biomass is firstly converted into fast pyrolysis bio-oil (FPBO) and bio-char. CO2 from the FPBO production will be sequestrated and converted into methanol, enabling the mitigation of GHG emissions of the pyrolysis step as well as side-production of green methanol. Secondly, the FPBO is stabilized into a high-quality advanced bio-based intermediate, which can be directly fed in conventional refinery plants, enabling the direct decarbonization of the refining sector as well as of the transportation fuels and chemicals. The stabilization will be performed via a single hydroprocessing step which incorporates several innovation systems and designs (i.e. a novel catalytic system abiding to FPBO acidity and solids content, optimal energy integration, as well as its integration with green H2 and a biochemical CCU unit). The ABATE end use will be demonstrated via co-feeding with refinery intermediates, rendering hybrid marine and aviation transport fuels, as well as feasibility and business plans. ABATE technology may satisfy over 55% and 5% of the EU renewable marine and aviation fuels demand by 2035, respectively. The ABATE project aims to scale-up and intensify the technology to reach 90%-120% GHG emission reduction (according to RED) in industrial scale by optimized processes and their integration with RES components (i.e. green H2) minimizing the use of fossil energy inputs.