Funding:

Project Acronym:UNPRECEDENTED

Project Name: UNPRECEDENTED | Unrevealing the mechanisms involved when producing biodiesel from waste oil using a combined experimental and theoretical methodology. 

Activity years: 2023 - 2026

Funding: HORIZON EUROPE (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-SE-01)

Budget:174.800,00€

Reference:  101086363

Host Institution: NORGES MILJO-OG BIOVITENSKAPLIGE UNIVERSITET (NMBU)

Partners: INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE ENGENHARIA DE LISBOA (ISEL);

Researchers (ISEL):

Professor Jaime Filipe Borges Puna - ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2763-3655

Professor João Fernando Pereira Gomes (Researcher in charge/ISEL) - ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2579-6669

Description:

A 40% reduction in emissions should be achieved by 2030 within the EU with the outstanding goal for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. These goals need to be reached without jeopardizing economic development and growth and simultaneously fulfilling the UN goals for sustainability. One of the main contributors to climate change and global warming is emissions from our vehicles as these mainly use petroleum-based fuels. To address this, new approaches, methodologies, and technologies must be developed. Biodiesel is one option to substitute diesel; however, its production has been controversial since it requires the use of edible oils and thus creates conflicts with the production of food crops, making it less attractive. Because of this problem, newer technologies are being developed to treat lower-quality non-edible oils. However, as yet, these are not economically viable. To address these problems, UNPRECEDENTED will focus on the use of waste oil. This new raw material has been tested experimentally with promising results. However, how the reaction is taking place and the steps involved are far from being understood. This lack of knowledge has a negative effect when selecting new technologies or testing new feedstocks. UNPRECEDENTED will use a combined methodology of experimental data and theoretical modeling (DFT-based calculations) to study and fully comprehend the biodiesel production reaction. This methodology will permit a full understanding of the reactive steps involved, the reaction pathway that is followed as well as the energies involved in each reactive step. This methodology will assess the conversion of waste oil in the presence of renewable alcohols to produce biodiesel when using new catalytic materials that are biobased, produce from renewable sources, and enriched with glycerol.