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Sustainable diesel fuels from waste meet the diesel standard

In the SynergyFuels project, innovative diesel fuels were developed from sewage sludge, organic waste, and hop spent grains. Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Sulzbach-Rosenberg employed its proprietary TCR process – a pyrolysis process with integrated upgrading of the products, especially the pyrolysis oil. Through targeted optimizations in the hydrogenation process of the oil, contaminants were reduced, resulting… Read More »Sustainable diesel fuels from waste meet the diesel standard

SynergyFuels at the CTC Symposium

The symposium “Transformation of Chemistry by Using Renewable Feedstocks” took place in Halle (Saale) from September 18-19, 2025. The symposium was organized by the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC). In his lecture “Microbial conversion of straw hydrolysate to isobutanol,” Professor Dr. Bastian Blombach presented the work of Susanne Müller and Christoph Gunkel on… Read More »SynergyFuels at the CTC Symposium

SynergyFuels at the Annual Conference of VAAM

Christoph Gunkel and Susanne Müller, research associates at the working group for Microbial Biotechnology (Technical University of Munich), presented their work on microbial isobutanol production at the annual conference of the Association of General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) at the Ruhr-University Bochum. The annual conference of the VAAM brings together researchers from different fields of… Read More »SynergyFuels at the Annual Conference of VAAM

Beyond the Halfway Mark: Partial Results and Next Steps

The collaborative project SynergyFuels surpassed its halfway point and entered the phase of sharing results through scientific papers, planning, and commissioning the fuel plants on a demonstration scale. The consortium reunited again in April 2025 at the project partner TFZ site in Straubing. It was the third in-person meeting since the project’s kick-off in April… Read More »Beyond the Halfway Mark: Partial Results and Next Steps

Systems analysis at the TUM Campus Straubing

The Chair of Renewable Energy Systems (TUM RES) is responsible for the system analysis of the synthesis routes of renewable fuels in the collaborative SynergyFuels project. As part of the system analysis, all individual processes (TCR, EXO, methanol synthesis + purification, isobutanol fermentation, formaldehyde production, ether synthesis, alcohol-to-olefins, and hydrotreatment with refining) were simulated in… Read More »Systems analysis at the TUM Campus Straubing

Isobutanol synthesis at TUM Campus Straubing

As part of the collaborative project SynergyFuels, three professorships from the TUM-Campus Straubing are responsible for the isobutanol synthesis, namely Professorship Microbial Biotechnology (TUM MIB), Chair of Chemistry of Biogenic Raw Resources (TUM CBR), and Professorship Bioprocess Engineering (TUM BVT). TUM MIB unlocked and characterized the production of isobutanol from wheat straw hydrolysate with Corynebacterium… Read More »Isobutanol synthesis at TUM Campus Straubing

Thermochemical conversion of biogenic residues at Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Retrospective for 2023-2024: progress in EXO and TCR technologies In 2023, the innovative “EXO” biomass conversion plant was put into operation as part of the SynergyFuels project. This plant combines a pyrolysis process with a gasification step. So far, sewage sludge, screen overflow, wood and vine cuttings have been tested as feedstocks. Continuous optimization of… Read More »Thermochemical conversion of biogenic residues at Fraunhofer UMSICHT

International stage for SynergyFuels: Biofuel production at the KTB2024 in Brazil

Christoph Gunkel, a research associate at the Technical University of Munich’s working group for Microbial Biotechnology, gave a talk about microbial isobutanol production at the „Key Technologies in the Bioeconomy“ (KTB) conference in São Paulo and Ubatuba. The KTB covers current developments in the bioeconomy, including relevant socioeconomic, financial, and regulatory drivers, as well as… Read More »International stage for SynergyFuels: Biofuel production at the KTB2024 in Brazil

Stability of new diesel fuel components

As part of the SynergyFuels project, TUM is developing synthesis routes for producing poly(oxymethylene)butyl ethers (OMBE), which can serve as renewable blending components for diesel fuels. In addition to basic fuel properties such as density and viscosity, the stability of these components is also decisive for their use in practice. The diesel fuel standards define… Read More »Stability of new diesel fuel components