A defence research project that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of turning organic compounds into military jet fuel, through a combination of innovative chemical, biological and engineering technologies — starting from renewable biological feedstock obtained by valorizing agro-industrial waste.
The approach is based on growing microalgae on organic waste and wastewater in indoor bioreactors, in order to extract and valorize specific lipids from the algal biomass. Through distillation and chemical conversion, these lipids are turned into the molecular species suitable for formulating synthetic aviation fuels such as JP8 and JP5. The triglycerides and lipids from the algal fraction undergo hydrotreatment and hydroisomerization, an industrially consolidated process, yielding a HEFA-SPK (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids — Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene) drop-in fuel usable for aviation.
Objectives
- Physico-chemical characterization of the synthetic fuel produced at laboratory scale against the applicable technical standards (ASTM D1655 and ASTM D7566 A.7), and evaluation of the weight yield on the starting feedstock.
- Scalability to pilot-plant level, including test activity on bench aero-derivative turbines to compare performance against fossil JP8 and JP5.
- Advancing the lipid-synthesis process from TRL 3 to TRL 8, obtaining a competitive, optimized biotechnological process.
Economic sustainability comes from using agri-food waste and wastewater as a source of nutrients for algal biomass. The programme structures the whole chain: recovery and treatment of waste materials; development and optimization of bioreactors; mechanical and chemical extraction of algal compounds; and hydrotreatment of the resulting compound into Jet SAF. Mixotrophic cultivation combines the advantages of photosynthetic and heterotrophic growth, without net CO₂ emissions and without competing for arable land.
SMLab's role
Within the consortium, SMLab contributes to the engineering and modification of the bioreactors and to the monitoring and management of their operation, as well as to the overall programme management.
Consortium and structure
The research is carried out by an ATS consortium bringing together Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT, Turin), Università del Salento (Lecce) and Associazione SMLab (Turin), each contributing complementary skills across biomass conversion, turbine testing and bioreactor engineering.