On 21 October 2026 FUEL-UP, NEXTFUEL, and REFOLUTION projects organised a webinar entitled “Advanced Biofuels and Biomethanol: From Production, Applications to the End-Use” aimed at presenting various perspectives on the evolving role of biofuels in the decarbonisation of the maritime and aviation sectors, their potential applications in “hard-to-abate” transport sectors, and the technological solutions facilitating their integration into existing refining infrastructure.
The webinar opened with the presentation “Co-processing of Bio-oils with VGO in a Lab-scale FCC Reactor: Experimental Insights and Challenges” by Shadi Razmaramina, Chemical Engineer at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Shadi analysed experimental results and technical challenges associated with the co-processing of bio-oils and conventional Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) in laboratory-scale Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) reactors, focusing on the capacity of existing refining infrastructure to support the integration of bio-based feedstocks and the production of fuels intended for the aviation sector, among others.
Download Shadi’s presentation here: https://www.fuelup-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Shadi.pdf
This speech was followed by the presentation “The Evolving Role of Biofuels in Maritime Decarbonization” by Sadi Tavakoli, Research Scientist at SINTEF Ocean (Norway), representing FUEL-UP project. Sadi explained that biofuels represent one of the fastest pathways to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the entire life cycle, thanks to their high compatibility with existing marine engines and current bunkering infrastructure. Sadi presented ongoing tests at Sintef Ocean Maritime Energy Systems Laboratory (M-Lab) involving blends based on HPO-Marine, bio-naphtha, and biomethanol.
Download Sadi’s presentation here: https://www.fuelup-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2-Sadi-FuelUp.pdf
The third presentation “Electrified Biogas-to-Methanol Production: Balancing Carbon Efficiency, Hydrogen Demand, and Electricity Consumption“, by Muhammad Zulkefal, PhD Scholar at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, addressed the topic of electrified production of methanol from biogas. This latter topic allowed for an examination of the trade-offs between carbon efficiency, hydrogen requirements, and electricity consumption, highlighting the technological aspects involved in developing sustainable and scalable fuel production value chains.
Download Muhammad’s presentation here: https://www.fuelup-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Muhammad-1.pdf
The webinar ended with a very explanatory and comprehensive Q&A session, moderated by Maria-Anna Charitopoulou, Chemical Engineer, MSc, PhD, Research Associate at CERTH (Greece).
A big thank you to all our speakers and to the over 350 webinar attendees who actively participated in the session.
If you would like to re-watch the webinar, check the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQQ36vtYaqo