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Advanced Biodiesel in circular economy for low carbon public transports. (BIOHEC-LIFE)
Start date: Dec 1, 2016, End date: Dec 31, 2019 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Background Petroleum products still account for 95% of fuel consumption by European road transport and represent 21% of European greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The European Union has set a target for every Member State that at least 10% of its transport fuel comes from renewable sources by 2020. First generation biofuels - such as agricultural bioethanol, to be used in gasoline engines, and biodiesel, made from oilseed crops, for use in standard diesel engines – have helped reduce GHG emissions, but they also have a negative impact on water and soils, as well as competing for land used by food crops. By 2013, EU strategy was re-oriented towards “advanced” biofuels, made from waste or agricultural and forestry residues (second generation) or algae (third generation). Used cooking oils (UCOs) are processed from food industry and catering waste; cheap and widely available, they are playing an increasing role in the development of advanced biofuels. However, although the legislative framework is in place, less than 40% of discarded UCOs are collected, and the biofuels processed from these are still associated with negative environmental impacts. Moreover, current biofuel production chains still mostly resort to the import and long-distance transport of material to large-capacity processing units: freight accounts for up to 20% of the GHG impact of these biofuels' life-cycle. Objectives BIOHEC-LIFE aims to achieve the following: Validate an eco-designed, compact and flexible demonstrator in order to produce competively-priced advanced biofuels derived from UCO and bioethanol; Provide French local authorities’ transport fleets with locally-produced biofuel; Validate the economic, social and environmental model of the production chain in the city of Lille and Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region; Prepare the replication and deployment of this model in subsequent French and European territories through partnerships and franchises; and Develop and promote new methods enabling the optimised recovery of UCOs. Expected results: The project expects to achieve the following beneficial results in terms of the prototype technology, recovery chain and replicability: Construction of an eco-designed, compact and flexible demonstrator allowing the processing of UCOs for biofuel production; Production of UCO-derived biofuel and bioethanol, allowing a 93% reduction in GHG emissions in the life-cycle compared with classic gasoline and a 22% reduction in comparison with other biofuel processes; Reduced environmental impacts compared with gasoline including -86% consumption of non-renewable energies, -97% photochemical oxidation, -98% human toxicity (health impact), and -46% eutrophication; High-value recovery chains for glycerol; Creation of a local and economically-competitive supply chain for second generation bioethanol; Successful running of the city of Lille's vehicle fleet for 19 months; Supply of 245 000 L of fuel – i.e. 50% of Lille's fuel consumption, bringing GHG emission savings of 200 teqCO2 during the project; Air emissions from the vehicles compatible with European emission standards 4 to 6; Methods and tools necessary to reach a rate of household waste recovery of 0.1 kg/inhabitant in participating local communities– i.e. avoiding 0.27 Mt eqCO2 of emissions; Technical, socioeconomic and environmental data validating the creation of a circular production chain for the processing of UCO-derived biofuel for the use of local communities; and A methodology to accompany and support the setting-up of production chains in order to ensure their replicability.

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