The project Renewable Fuels and Chemicals for Switzerland i.e., reFuel.ch is sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy’s SWEET (Swiss Energy research for the Energy Transition) programme . The reFuel.ch consortium is comprised of nine Swiss universities, applied universities, and research institutes from various disciplines as well as an industrial partner. The project is coordinated by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa).
Objectives
The overall objective of reFuel.ch is to show how robust pathways for the production and supply of sustainable fuels (SF) and platform chemicals (SPC) can be implemented to achieve Swiss greenhouse gas emission and energy policy targets.
The specific objectives are:
- Develop an interdisciplinary understanding of robust and sustainable pathways for fuel and chemicals supply
- Provide the scientific basics for a robust strategy to meet the Swiss demand on sustainable fuels and chemicals
- Develop a roadmap for optimal integration of unused domestic resources (e.g., manure and other bio waste, excess electricity, carbon sources, and waste heat)
- Strengthen the role of Switzerland as technology and knowledge supplier by international cooperation and technology demonstration
- Act as an aggregator for developments and projects between the different stakeholders in the field of sustainable fuels and chemicals
PSI-EEG is involved primarily in the Work Package 2 and 3. In the WP2 the MERGE-ETL model is being further developed and applied to analyze the international trades of SF and PC. In the WP3 the JRC-EU-TIMES model is used to provide SF and PC supply related inputs to Swiss Energy System Modelling Framework (SESMF).