Development of microalgae and/or direct solar fuel production and purification technologies for advanced aviation and /or shipping fuels
European Comission
ExpectedOutcome :
Project results are expected to contribute to at least 3 of the following expected outcomes:
- Availability of disruptive sustainable renewable fuel technologies in order to accelerate the replacement of fossil-based energy technologies in aviation and/or shipping.
- Reduced cost and improved efficiency of sustainable microalgae-based and/or direct solar renewable fuel technologies and their value chains.
- Increase technology leadership, competitiveness and technology export potential of European industry in possibly game-changing microalgae and/or direct solar renewable fuel technologies.
- Enhanced sustainability of aviation and/or shipping fuels, taking fully into account circular economy, social, economic and environmental aspects in line with the European Green Deal priorities.
- Reinforced European scientific basis and European export potential for renewable energy technologies through international collaborations (e.g., the AU-EU Climate Change and Sustainable Energy partnership, the missions and innovation communities of Mission Innovation 2.0).
- Increasing the European energy security and reliability by enlarging the renewable feedstock basis for aviation and maritime fuels as well as maintaining and fostering the European global leadership in affordable, secure and sustainable microalgae-based and/or direct solar fuel renewable energy technologies. Scope :
Development of microalgae and/or direct solar fuel production and purification technologies for making advanced aviation and /or shipping fuels from microalgae and/or direct sun use a techno-economic feasible, cost-effective and sustainable option for large-scale use of microalgae-based and/or solar-based advanced fuels in aviation and /or shipping. Specific focus should be on purification of microalgae biomass and /or direct solar fuel components and delivery to advanced algae-based fuels and /or direct solar fuels for aviation and/or shipping. Acknowledging problems of culture or system contamination and the specific challenge of energy-efficient product purification, the specific techno-economic challenges of microalgae and/or direct solar fuels for renewable fuel production should be addressed with novel and innovative technologies, by taking in particular into account effects on CAPEX, OPEX, energy efficiency, GHG balance and circularity of materials and process streams. Proposals should also address systemic constraints and opportunities for scaling-up algae-based and/or solar fuel technologies.
Direct solar fuels are in this context renewable synthetic fuels made by direct conversion routes from solar to chemical energy. Photovoltaic systems with separate fuel production and hydrogen as a fuel end-product is excluded.
The sustainability and GHG reduction should be addressed on a life-cycle assessment basis including circular economy, social, economic and environmental aspects.
Projects are expected where possible to collaborate with and contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action funded under the topic HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-16
Specific Topic Conditions :
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
General conditions
- Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
- Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .
- Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
- Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual