Our Directed Research initiative targets next generation bioenergy

Tackling outstanding innovation gaps

The Carbon Trust has identified various promising research avenues that have previously not been given sufficient focus. Our Directed Research initiative is working to create funding mechanisms to attract researchers to solve the existing problems with emerging technologies and make them commercially viable. Following our successful Advanced PV Research Accelerator we are running a public competition on next generation bioenergy to find partners to carry out a Directed Research Initiative in biomass pyrolysis oil upgrading.

Pyrolysis oil upgrading - a potential route to low carbon fuel

Energy from sustainable sources of biomass could have a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. At the moment there are a number of technologies with the potential to deliver sustainable, low carbon biofuels. As these technologies are likely to be expensive and challenging to develop, we aim to launch a Research Accelerator to dramatically increase the rate at which they will enter the market.

Our aim is to build innovative partnerships between leading academic groups, hi-tech SMEs and industrial companies. Our analysis shows that the UK has the capability to take the lead in this technology.

Initial efforts are directed at upgrading pyrolysis oils – derived from thermally-processed biomass – to produce low-cost substitutes for a variety of transport fuels. With £5-6 million available for research, we believe that a multidisciplinary team can help solve the remaining problems currently hindering progress, using latent capability in relevant related disciplines.