CIRCULAIR at EUBCE 2026 – 34th European Biomass Conference
CIRCULAIR at EUBCE 2026 – 34th European Biomass Conference
For its 34th edition, the European Biomass Conference brought together the international biomass and bioeconomy community in the Hague on 19-22 May 2026. The CIRCULAIR project was represented by three team members at the conference.
Daniele Castello (Aalborg University) gave a plenary talk titled “Maximizing Jet-fuel from HTL Biocrude: The Challenge of Highly Asphaltenic Biocrude” focused on the latest achievements in converting abundant agricultural waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) compliant with current specifications, showing novel and interesting results. In particular, the talk focused on hydroprocessing and indicated an effective approach to deal with HTL biocrudes from agricultural waste, characterized by a high content of inorganics and heavy fractions. Thanks to the implemented multi-stage hydrotreating strategy and the collaboration of the different partners of the CIRCULAIR consortium, HTL biocrude from manure was seamlessly upgraded in a continuous-flow hydrotreater. Jet-fuel yields up to 43% were achieved, compliant with ASTM D7566 specifications. This is a remarkable result, confirming the great potential of HTL for the production of future SAF.
Gabriel De Freitas Batista (University of Hohenheim) presented a poster titled “Soil Responses to Hydrothermal Liquefaction Hydrochar Application: Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Earthworm Avoidance”. This poster presents the recent findings of the interaction of HTL-hydrochar with soil organisms. The results indicate that post-treated hydrochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase microbial biomass and promote carbon fixation in the soil. These results support the valorization of hydrochar in agriculture, improving soil health and reintegrating the char carbon and nutrients into the soil. With this poster, Gabriel won 2 awards for best poster presentation, from both the technical jury and the audience.
Ib Johannsen (Circlia Nordic), together with high level experts from the European Commission, IEA, Shell and Repsol, contributed to the panel discussion on scaling SAF in practice and enabling real-world deployment. This discussion took place in the frame of the “SAF Upscaling – Time for Action” workshop organised by the ICARUS project.
Pictures: From top to bottom: Daniele Castello (Aalborg University), Gabriel De Freitas Batista (University of Hohenheim), Ib Johannsen (Circlia Nordic) at the EUBCE 2026 conference.
