F-CUBED Project

F-CUBED aims to develop an advanced process concept for the hydrothermal conversion of a broad range of biogenic residues to intermediate bioenergy carriers (IEC) with fuel characteristics suitable for balancing the power grid. The core technology will be scaled up from lab (TRL 3) to pilot scale (TRL 5). F-CUBED will achieve a breakthrough acceleration in the utilisation of unused biogenic residues and wastes by:

• Increasing energy density and fuel characteristics of biogenic residues through hydrothermal processing with an energy yield of 50%.
• Showing at least a 30% improvement on residue processing costs, while obtaining GHG emission savings of at least 60% in using the IEC for heat and power generation.
• Validating experimentally the core process by using continuous hydrothermal reactor (20 kg/hr) and dewatering pilots, in a relevant industrial environment on 3 representative side streams, at Smurfit Kappa Pitea (Sweden, paper sludge), Go Fruselva (Spain, fruit and vegetable wastes) and APPO (Italy, waste olive pomace).
• Making and using a minimum of 100 kg (dry matter) of IEC in a relevant industrial environment.
• Validating the parallel recovery of specific value-added products for each industrial case (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, terpenes and olive pomace oil recovery).