Renewable fuels from green refineries of the future

Renewable fuels for road, air, and shipping transportation cannot be produced selectively through a single process route. They are typically produced in varying proportions along with other by-products. The REF4FU project aims to develop, validate, and assess sustainable refinery concepts to meet future demand for renewable liquid fuels. Renewable methanol, Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbons, and pyrolysis oils will be utilized to produce, test, and evaluate fuels currently used in fleets and anticipated for future use using scalable technologies. Additionally, a classification will be conducted in accordance with the regulatory framework.

The research partners will formulate renewable fuel components into customized fuels using a systematic approach. These fuels will be analyzed and assessed for compliance with current and potential future standards, as well as their technical feasibility. The industrial partners will primarily focus on the practical development and scaling of technology combinations necessary for fuel production and testing, evaluation, and further refinement of the fuels. The resulting refinery concepts will be evaluated based on technical, ecological, and economic characteristics and their adaptability to future fuel requirements. Examples of successful implementation of selected refinery concepts will be provided.