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Seaweed cultivation, seeding and harvesting processes

MacroFuels reached significant breakthroughs on the way to a sustainable seaweed production  industry, which in Europe is still in its infancy.  Results achieved include a proved novel year-round cultivation approach for seaweeds at test sites in Scotland and Denmark under different cultivation conditions. Learn about the progress achieved by MacroFuels in detail.

Conditioning of seaweed

We developed and optimized chemical and biological ensiling processes. They show great potential as a cost-effective industry-scale preservation method due to the low energy input. Find out about further progress achieved by MacroFuels in the field of seaweed conditioning.

Hydrolysis of seaweed sugars to fermentable substrates

MacroFuels set the ambitious target of a total of fermentable sugars of 60 g/l in the hydrolysate and we achieved it! Find out more about how.

Biorefinery and biofuel production

MacroFuels successfully demonstrated different pilot processes for the production of biofuels  from seaweed. Ethanol and ABE could be produced via fermentation processes, while thermochemical routes lead to furanics and furanic additives and diesel additives.

Techno-economic and sustainability assessment

The entire value chain addressed in MacroFuels has been assessed. Results showed that the costs for biomass production and automated harvesting are currently too high for fuel applications unless integrated in a cascading biorefinery in which seaweed compounds are valorised for high value applications. Other elements of the sustainability assessment incl. environmental, social and business aspects are underway and will be published here throughout 2019. 

Engine tests

All biofuels and additives produced in MacroFuelswill be tested in a real car engine. Those engine tests have been set up. Once the new gasoline engine that is suitable for testing the MacroFuels fuel samples is delivered, the test will be performed (estimated date is April 2019).

Impact Maximisation and Stakeholder Engagement

MacroFuels puts strong emphasis on maximising the positive impacts that results and progress may have on the various target groups of the project. To this end a thorough strategy for dissemination, communication, exploitation and the engagement of stakeholders was developed and implemented. Here you can find out more about the highlights of MacroFuels' impact maximisation activities and what we have learned so far from dialogues with various stakeholders.