The Objectives Of SUSTOIL

The primary aim of this project is to develop advanced biorefinery schemes for incorporation into existing oil production/transesterification plants in the EU that can stimulate the sustainable economic growth of the vegetable oil and biodiesel sector.

SUSTOIL will identify innovative and clean technologies, which allow maximal utilisation of the side streams generated throughout oil crops supply chains from growing, harvesting through to primary and finally secondary processing. It will address the issues of minimising costs of transportation and storage and also identify the main technological challenges facing the biorefinery approach.

SUSTOIL will develop advanced biorefinery schemes and investigate the potential of integrating these into existing vegetable oil production/transesterification plants. Potential synergies between processes and products will be explored.

SUSTOIL will ascertain the sustainability of the various developed schemes through a full life cycle assessment and computational modelling of economic, social and environmental costs-benefits. This will enable the short-listing of the most promising schemes.

SUSTOIL will develop various policy scenarios to understand any potential environmental, economic and policy constraints the bioenergy and biorefinery sector could face within a sustainable development framework.

SUSTOIL will hold two workshops (April 2009 and February 2010). The workshops will bring together both scientists and stakeholders (industry, policymakers, etc) and will serve as forums for discussions and information exchange.

SUSTOIL will also organise a final dissemination conference (May 2010), where the main recommendations of the study will be presented. The conference will summarise the key findings and factors required to support the rapid and wide-spread deployment of integrated biorefineries and the sustainable growth of the biofuels market in the EU.

SUSTOIL will work in close collaboration with other EU-funded projects including BIOREF-INTEG to ensure there is no overlap or duplication in the work, whilst aiming to promote knowledge transfer and dissemination of information to assist other EU initiatives.

SUSTOIL will provide opportunities to build new co-operative networks between the key stakeholders in the area of renewable resources, biofuels and biorefineries.

In summary, SUSTOIL will enable the identification of future research and development needs for the realisation of the biorefineries concept. It will also lead to the development of research networks of wide and diverse range of skills, knowledge and expertise required to deliver the biorefinery scheme.