ECO-FORCE FUELS: ECO-eFficient biORefinery for Competitive production of grEen renewable shipping FUELS

ECO-FORCE FUELS aims to produce low-emission marine biofuels via complete conversion of forest residues. A continuous organosolv process will be used to separate cellulose and hemicellulose from lignin. Microbial lipids will be produced from cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysates; whereas hydrothermal liquefaction of lignin will yield bio-oil that can be easily fractionated into light and heavy oil.

In the previous STEM GOLdJETFUEL project, the light fraction was successfully upgraded to oxygen-free aromatics for use as aviation fuel. The present project will upgrade the heavy oil fraction and bio-lipids to bunker fuel and the light fraction to chemicals.

The resulting sulfur-free marine bio-crude will comply with existing fuel standards and strict emission regulations, as well as with improved fuel efficiency requirements of future vessels. Combining the mixture of lipids and heavy bio-oil with conventional petroleum-derived oil will result in affordable and renewable marine fuel.