COCKPIT

Despite numerous investments by Europe in the field of biofuels, the SAF sector from algae (micro and macro algae) is struggling to take off. The challenges of this new energy source are still hard, as the performance levels obtained are still struggling to compete with other biofuels from other sources. However, numerous publications report profound advances in the field of microalgae cultivation, extraction and conversion processes. These different advances promise a new era for biofuels from microalgae, provided that these different advances are considered as a whole. The COCPIT project directly addresses this fragmentation by aiming the global improvement of the bio-jet fuel production chain by acting on each step of the chain and by adopting a circularity of material and energy flows. In COCPIT, we are betting on articulating our project around the "Chlorella kessleri" strain on which we have very promising preliminary results. We want to disrupt the production of microalgae by combining bioreactor and transparent photovoltaic panels to cultivate microalgae and produce electricity together. Microalgae productivity and lipid contents will be optimized and the dry matter concentration and lipid extraction will also be addressed by novel, efficient and sustainable means. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) followed by refining will be optimized to produce the bio-jet fuel. The fuel produced will be characterized and tested on an equipped test bench. The circularity of the chain will be optimized by proposing the recirculation of the culture medium as well as the nutrients and the carbon dioxide produced during the different steps of the process. The hydrogen necessary for the refining of the bio-oil will be produced from the co-products of the different steps. At the end of the project, our jet-fuel production chain will be circular, optimized, profitable and efficient, and all this at low energy cost. The coverage of the global chain by COCPIT will allow to make economic and environmental evaluations on the life cycle of an industrial installation and to compare it to the classical certified way (HEFA). These results will provide a decision support tool, based on predictive simulation models embedding the data generated during the project, which will be usable and replicable in the pre-project phases to assess the potential, viability and sustainability of new facilities. Although the consortium is not yet complete, we hope to involve suppliers of biofuels (or processes leading to these biofuels) in the co-construction of these tools so that they fully meet the industrial need. The consortium will be designed so that each exploitable technological brick of the project is co-constructed by an academic and industrial actor.