F-CUBED: Hydrothermal Conversion of Biogenic Residues to Bioenergy Carriers

F-CUBED develops a feedstock-flexible hydrothermal conversion process to transform non-food biogenic residues into high-energy bioenergy carriers for grid balancing. The project, funded by EU Horizon 2020 (grant No 884226), targets 50% energy yield, 30% cost reduction, and 60% GHG savings. It validates the process at industrial scale using continuous reactors and dewatering pilots on side streams from Smurfit Kappa (Sweden), Delafruit (Spain), and APPO (Italy). The technology enables recovery of nutrients (N, P, K), terpenes, and olive pomace oil, with applications in power generation, transport fuels, and industrial energy. It can process up to 131 MTOE of residues—8% of EU-28 consumption. TNO leads coordination, with consortium support in LCA, communication, and process optimization.