F-CUBED project logo

F-CUBED is a three-year project that started on May 1st 2020 and aims to develop an advanced process concept for the hydrothermal conversion of a broad range of biogenic residues to intermediate bioenergy carriers with fuel characteristics, suitable for balancing the power grid.

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The F-CUBED approach enables overall validation of a feedstock flexible process, able to deal with variable feed characteristics, such as size, composition and pumpability. F-CUBED targets waste residues that do not compete with land intended for food or feed production.

Three types of biogenic residues will be treated, paper sludge from cardboard production, fruit & vegetable processing waste from baby food production, and waste olive pomace from olive oil extraction.

Generally, biomass conversion technologies are developed for specific streams treatment and applications, being consequently limited in their feedstock flexibility and potential for dispatchable distributed power generation. The F-CUBED process has been designed to handle a wide range of biomasses, albeit all wet and difficult to dewater mechanically, and balance the features of different unit operations, in order to meet the requirements of a feedstock flexible conversion technology.

Furthermore, F-CUBED goes beyond current thermochemical upgrading, through the integration of thermochemical biomass conversion with N-P-K recovery, liquid internal circulation anaerobic treatment and advanced dewatering of hydrothermal slurries.

F-CUBED will contribute to advancing the state-of-the-art in TORWASH® hydrothermal treatment, mechanical dewatering of biogenic suspensions, N-P-K recovery via acid leaching and precipitation, anaerobic treatment of organic effluents, pelleting for combustion and gasification and briquetting for iron making.

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Consortium

  • TNO – Project co-ordinator (Netherlands)

  • PAQUES – Treatment and analysis of effluent streams for biomethan potential (Netherlands)
  • Swerim – WP2 leader. Production of bio-coal briquettes (Sweden)

  • Limburg Filter – Dewatering of biogenic residues (Netherlands)

  • Care For Engineering – WP3 and WP5 leaders. Life cycle analysis and sustainability, enviromental and social impact assessments (Italy)

  • ELIQUO – Techno-economic evaluations for hydrothermal installations (Germany)

  • HEAT Systems – Gasification and combustion testing of pellets (Ireland)

  • CPM EUROPE – Pelletisation and techno-economic assessment of pelleting installation (Netherlands)

  • University of Hohenheim – Nutrient extraction (Germany)

  • NUI Galway – Numerical model of Torwash hydrothermal treatment (Ireland)

  • KNEIA – Communication, dissemination and exploitation (Spain)

  • Smurfit Kappa – WP2 pilot testing (Sweden)

  • APPO – WP3 pilot testing (Italy)

  • Delafruit  – WP4 pilot testing (Spain)

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 884226.

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