The Flexby Horizon EU Project, funded by the European Union, aims to produce sustainable liquid and gaseous biofuels from microalgae grown in wastewater and industrial waste streams. Using microwave-assisted pyrolysis, FLEXBY breaks down waste into solid, liquid, and gas components, which are converted into advanced biofuels using low-emission technologies.
The liquid becomes biofuel for heavy transport, the gas generates bio-hydrogen, and the solid is turned into biochar and activated carbon. Optimisation tools and renewable energy enhance system efficiency, while circular economy principles guide biomass reuse.
Ongoing life cycle assessments will evaluate the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the entire process, moving FLEXBY closer to carbon-neutral energy solutions.
Over the last year, FLEXBY has made significant strides in its objective to transform waste into clean, advanced biofuels. By combining cutting-edge microwave-assisted pyrolysis with sustainable feedstocks such as wastewater-grown microalgae and industrial oily sludge, FLEXBY is helping to shape a more sustainable future.
Major project achievements:
🔵 Feedstock Selection
Initial analysis of six waste samples, conducted by CSIC-INCAR, confirmed that microalgae residues and oily sludges are the most promising for biofuel conversion. These materials show high energy potential and absorb microwave energy efficiently, ensuring optimal processing performance.
🔵 Successful Microalgae Cultivation
In collaboration with Algae for Future (A4F), FLEXBY tested native microalgae cultivation in wastewater at a treatment plant near Lisbon. Dominant Scenedesmus species demonstrated high lipid content and robust growth, ideal for biofuel production. The use of digestate as a nutrient source also significantly increased biomass yield.
🔵 Engineering and Simulation Breakthroughs
Led by Politecnico di Milano (PMI), and Frick and Mallah (FRIMA) the consortium developed detailed simulations for the entire FLEXBY project and technical designs for the microwave pyrolysis reactor. Process modelling confirmed that algae residues offer greater energy efficiency than oily sludge, guiding future system optimisation.
🔵 Preliminary Environmental Assessment
GreenDelta’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows FLEXBY’s technology has the potential to outperform traditional pyrolysis in energy use and emissions. The best-performing setup, microalgae combined with microwave pyrolysis, offers reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower resource consumption.
CO2 Value Europe is a proud member of Flexby, supporting its communication and dissemination activities and contributing to the project’s clustering efforts.
