Biofuels: from waste to energy

CORDIScovery – unearthing the hottest topics in EU science, research and innovation

The United Nations report, published in March 2023, is very clear, it says: “ (…) keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.”

In this episode we look at how biofuels can help us meet these imperatives. Using biomass as a source of energy is particularly elegant: you take waste that is all too often part of the problem when it comes to disposal, and you break it down to get gas which is then used as fuel.

Our guests are: Yeray Asensio, based at the Spanish water management company, Aqualia is interested in ways of making sewage sludge treatment to produce biogas, easier and cheaper for smaller communities. Cristina González is head of the Biotechnology Unit of the Madrid Institute for Advanced Study. She is particularly interested in recovering carbon from waste to produce biochemicals and biofuels within the idea of the circular economy. Petteri Salonen is the CEO of Finrenes, a Finnish company that has developed a new way to turn wood and plant fibre waste into biomethane and fuel pellets, widening the range of fibres that can be used. For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!qJHW36