Joint Symposium: Driving the Transition From Waste to Sustainable Fuels

Barcelona, 28-29 May 2026 — Researchers, industry leaders, and policymakers gathered in Spain last week to tackle one of Europe’s most pressing challenges: how to turn waste into sustainable fuels at scale.

Across two days of intense discussion, the message was clear: while a brilliant diversity of technological solutions exists—spanning negative-emission biofuels, e-fuels, and advanced biomass valorisation—scaling them depends entirely on cross-sector alignment and deep collaboration.

Day 1: Frameworks, Economics, and the Standardisation of Sustainability

The opening day focused on the structural, digital, and economic frameworks required to lift waste-to-fuel solutions from lab-scale innovation to industrial implementation. Sessions explored AI-driven optimisations, strict circularity metrics, and detailed techno-economic analyses. A major highlight was the growing consensus around the urgent need to align Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies for biofuels. Establishing this industry-wide consistency is the essential bedrock required to unlock true, scalable impact and regulatory clarity.

Day 2: Deep Tech Pathways

Day two dove deep into the cutting-edge technologies shaping the future energy landscape. Discussions ranged from solar-driven biomass plants capable of negative emissions and recovering valuable elements from thermal conversion residues, to intensified biobased systems and the microwave pyrolysis of algae and oily sludge.

FUEL-UP Participation

FUEL-UP project was highly active throughout the symposium sessions and strategic debates:

  • Value Chain Assessment: Konstantinos Stergiou, Chemical Engineer at AristEng, delivered a presentation titled “Biofuel Production Value Chain: GHG Emissions and Techno-Economic Assessment of Potential Side Streams Valorisation Processes.”
  • Navigating Aviation Standards: Uwe Bauder, Group Lead at The German Aerospace Center (DLR), provided crucial insights with his presentation, “From Specification Barriers to Qualified Fuels: Challenges and Strategies for Navigating ASTM Requirements in SAF Projects.”
  • LCA Panel Debate: FUEL-UP also actively contributed to the vital panel discussion, “Aligning LCA Methodology for (Bio)Fuels: From Standards to Advanced Considerations,” which was moderated by Thomas Schaubroeck, Lead Researcher and Sustainability Expert at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).

Thank you to all the co-organsing projects: Flexby, TEAPOTS, BeBOP, Bio-MeGaFuel, Fuels-C and Pysolo.