Sustainable Energy and Alternative Fuels from Advanced Intermediate Renewable Energy carrieR technology

The aim of the SEAFAIRER project is to demonstrate, at Technology Readiness Level (TRL 7), the production of improved intermediate biofuels followed by processing in existing refinery infrastructure to deliver climatepositive drop-in biofuels for maritime transport.

The feedstock (biogenic waste residues) will be transported in short distances to decentralised vertical intermediate pyrolysis-based reactor (VINTER) units.

The SEAFAIRER project will collect, characterise and process 3 different residual biomass feedstocks: (i) rice husk from the Valencia region, Spain; (ii) biowaste sieving material from Bavaria in Germany; and (iii) agave bagasse from southern Mexico.

These feedstocks have been strategically selected from exclusively fair and residual sources without indirect land use change (iLUC) issues.

The VINTER unit will convert the biomass through a single-stage intermediate pyrolysis and post-reforming process into three main products: biochar, raw oil (intermediate biofuel) and syngas.

The high-quality biochar is suitable for European Biochar Certification (EBC) as carbon sink with vast agricultural and industrial applications. The carbon sink will play a crucial role to achieve the climate targets of the maritime transport sector.

At commercial scale, the intermediate biofuel, which has a high energy density (approx. 32 to 36 MJ/kg), branches out into two market entry pathways that leverage existing refinery infrastructure: Pathway A is designed to cover the immediate biofuel needs of the industrial maritime shipping sector, which is under considerable regulatory pressure and has strict GHG reduction/decarbonisation targets, such as the ones set out in FuelEU Maritime.

This pathway will target direct blends (B10 to B30) of intermediate biofuel (VINTER raw oil) on par with Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) according to the ISO 8217:2017 quality thresholds for marine fuels (cf. Table 4). Pathway B targets the medium- to long-term demands of the maritime industrial shipping sector.

In this case, the intermediate biofuel will be upgraded via hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), targeting higher blending capacity up to pure drop-in fuel quality (B50 to B100), on par with Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) according to the ISO 8217:2017 quality thresholds for marine fuels.