Advancing Sustainable Biofuels: SUNFUSION Consortium Meets in Saint-Nazaire
The SUNFUSION consortium gathered for its 9-month meeting on 11–12 September 2025 in Saint-Nazaire, France, hosted by the University of Nantes. The two-day event brought together partners from across Europe to review the project’s progress and align upcoming activities toward a common goal — advancing the production of sustainable biofuels from microalgae and oleaginous yeasts through solar-powered hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL).
The meeting opened with an overview from The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas (CERTH), the project coordinator, covering management updates, deliverables, and financial matters. Partners discussed the establishment of the Advisory Board, which will provide expert insight into technical developments and strategic guidance. The Board is expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.
Discussions throughout the meeting reflected SUNFUSION’s strong collaborative spirit — partners shared lessons learned, synchronized technical goals, and agreed on timelines for upcoming experimental and modelling activities. Smaller cross-partner meetings will be organised to maintain this collaborative momentum between the main gatherings.
Updates on Scientific Progress
The heart of the discussions focused on scientific and technical advancements. Researchers reported solid progress in biomass cultivation, with promising yields of microalgae and yeast feedstock, and ongoing efforts to optimize lipid content and cost efficiency. These results will support the upcoming HTL experimental campaigns, which aim to convert the biomass into high-quality biocrude oil.
Partners also exchanged insights on process modelling and techno-economic assessment, exploring upscaling scenarios and strategies for continuous operation throughout the year. Work on thermal energy storage and solar integration is advancing in parallel, ensuring that the conversion process is energy-efficient and aligned with SUNFUSION’s renewable focus.
Communication, Dissemination, and Outlook
The consortium also discussed dissemination and outreach activities, such as the continued growth of the project’s online presence and plans for increasing engagement with the research community and industry stakeholders. Ideas such as incorporating QR codes for easier access to project materials were welcomed by the partners.
Finally, the team looked ahead to upcoming publications, potential conference participation, and closer links with related EU-funded projects. These efforts will help ensure SUNFUSION’s results reach both scientific and public audiences.
The consortium agreed that the next consortium meeting will take place in Grenoble, France, on 11–12 March 2026, hosted by Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA).
The consortium concluded its productive two-day meeting with a visit to AlgoSolis, where partners were given a guided laboratory tour, which provided valuable insights into the ongoing research and technologies supporting SUNFUSION’s work on sustainable biofuel production.
AlgoSolis is a French public facility that develops and optimizes new technologies for microalgal biomass production and biorefining. With more than 20 independent production lines (total 1300m²), the infrastructure of AlgoSolis allows the individual development of units to validate and optimize their performance in real-world operating conditions, or the study of their integration into an overall process from the production of biomass to the extraction of molecules of interest.
In addition to the state-of-the-art technologies, AlgoSolis incorporates the latest innovations in the field, thanks to the work of the GEPEA laboratory and its partners. This includes several breakthrough processes like intensified photobioreactors and wet-biomass biorefining, strains of industrial interest, optimizes procedures for culture media recycling and microalgae culture on industrial effluent.
