Flexible decentralized or centralized model

The HTL technology and the process developed in NextGenRoadFuels can be integrated within existing infrastructures, thus reducing costs and saving time for the implementation. The approach considered in NextGenRoadFuels is to utilize state-of-the-art pilot facilities already available at partner institutions rather than building new.

Two main scenarios will be evaluated:

• Standalone model with complete production pathway from urban feedstock to drop-in fuels at a central facility;
• hub-and-spoke model, whit a number of HTL plants on the territory, close to the sources of feedstock serving a single upgrading facility.

The plants will therefore constitute cost-effective, scalable, single point of valorisation pathway for aggregated urban biogenic residues.

NextGenRoadFuels will explore scenarios linking the optimal size of HTL plants to the availability of aggregated urban feedstock. The project will then identify the optimal ratio of HTL plants to upgrading plants, for a given scenario, and will provide an implementation tool to determine the optimal setup for a given location in Europe.