BarkGF - Bark conversion into green fuels

Project team: Leonidas Matsakas (project leader), Paul Christakopoulos, Katerina Hruzova, Ulrika Rova

Partners: RISE Processum

Duration: 2019

Funded by the Swedish Energy Agency

Valorization of currently underutilized residual resources for the production of advanced liquid fuels can serve as an important step forward towards a fossil-free Sweden. Within this pre-study we will use softwood bark to produce high value green transport grade fuels with low oxygen content and high purity via continuous hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). To enable cost-effective and high yield conversion of bark, we will initially fractionate softwood bark to its main components (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and tannins) whereafter each fraction will be treated separately in the most efficient way prior to its use as HTL feed, aiming to obtain the highest overall conversion yield during HTL. This project will be one of the first attempts to establish a softwood bark biorefinery for the production of green fuels.