XFuel awarded €7.7 million to develop sustainable transportation fuel
XFuel’s EIC Accelerator project, ROW2FUEL, was awarded €7.7M blended finance from the October 2024 call to bring their sustainable transportation fuel to market. Their innovative technology converts various waste materials into low-carbon and ultra-clean drop-in fuel. We spoke to Dr David Lunn, Head of Science at XFuel, to learn more about their awarded project, and their experience collaborating with the Catalyze team towards the EIC Accelerator success.
XFuel is on a mission to decarbonise the transport sector
XFuel, an SME with R&D headquarters in Mallorca, Spain, has developed proprietary and breakthrough conversion technologies that produce drop-in and low-carbon fuel from waste which are cost-competitive with fossil fuel market prices. XFuel’s drop-in fuels meet fossil fuel specifications and performance, meaning that they are compatible with existing combustion engines and fossil fuel infrastructure, allowing for direct replacement today.
While electrification is crucial for reducing transport sector emissions, it is not currently a viable solution for all transport segments, particularly heavy-duty trucks, ships, and airplanes. As this transport will remain dependent on liquid fuels—especially in the maritime and aviation sectors where fuel consumption is expected to rise—there is an urgent need for low greenhouse gas, cost-accessible drop-in fuels.
Bringing chemical liquid refining technology to the market
XFuel owns two proprietary technologies to produce high-grade transportation fuel from all types of scalable waste material: Chemical liquid refining (CLR) that refines and cracks hydrocarbon liquids and residues into ultra clean drop-in transport fuels, and Mechanical Catalytic Conversion (MECC) that co-processes lignocellulosic biomass and waste oil producing marine fuels and biochar. Both technologies have the potential to be used for the processing of a diverse range of different waste feedstocks and are designed with decentralised operation in mind.
XFuel’s €7.7 million EIC Accelerator Project, ROW2FUEL
With this EIC Accelerator project, ROW2FUEL, XFuel will work towards bringing the CLR technology to market. While the current focus for CLR is on sludge-derived Marine Gasoil (MARPOL to MGO), the company has been working on diversifying inputs with highly promising results. XFuel aims to be the first company on the market to produce low-carbon drop-in transportation fuel with certified GHG saving, at a comparable market price to fossil fuels.
The project was awarded in the most competitive EIC Accelerator funding round to date, with 1211 applicants and only 71 awarded projects.
Dr. Lunn shares the importance of this funding:
“Receiving the EIC award is a big vote of confidence for both the work we do at XFuel and our long term vision. The funding allows us to move towards our first CLR commercial facility and take our product to market. It will also allow us to continue our R&D initiatives which focus on working with alternative feedstocks and further developing our road and SAF products.”
XFuel and Catalyze collaboration
Catalyze provided support throughout the application process, including the development of the XFuel EIC Accelerator proposal. We are proud of our successful collaboration, the outcome of which represents a big step towards affordable low-carbon transport fuels.
Dr. Lunn comments on the collaboration:
“Catalyze’s expertise in clearly communicating our technologies, combined with their guidance through the grant process, were particularly valuable. We would recommend Catalyze to any ambitious early-stage companies considering European funding initiatives.”
What is the EIC Accelerator?
The EIC Accelerator, part of Horizon Europe, is a funding programme designed by the European Innovation Council to support (deep-tech) start-ups and SMEs that:
- Develop innovative, game-changing products, services, or business models with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and beyond.
- Demonstrate the ambition and commitment to scale up their business.
- Require significant funding to grow, but whose high level of risk makes it difficult to attract private investment alone.
This highly competitive programme helps you to develop your business concept further into a market-ready product, service or process aligned with your company’s growth strategy. Want to learn more about the EIC Accelerator programme and the different services Catalyze Group can provide? We tell you all about it on this page.
And do you want to get the most out of your EIC Accelerator proposal? Make sure to download our EIC Accelerator guide to help you secure funding.
Catalyze is an official partner of the EIC
Catalyze is proud to be an official EIC Partner and member of the EIC Ecosystem Partnership and Co-investment Support programme. All EIC supported projects and companies get access to coaching, mentoring, partnering and other EIC Business Acceleration Services from partners as part of the programme.
Learn more about EIC Ecosystem Partnership and Co-investment Support programme.
About the European Innovation Council (EIC) Programme
The European Innovation Council (EIC), launched under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, has a budget of €10.1 billion to support breakthrough innovations, covering the full journey from early research and proof of concept to technology transfer, funding, and scaling up start-ups and SMEs. The EIC aims at identifying and supporting breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations with the potential to scale up internationally and become market leaders. 70% of the entire budget is ear-marked for SMEs, which shows the focus of EIC on supporting SMEs. There are 3 sub-programmes that form the basis of the EIC programme: EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator.
About Catalyze
At Catalyze we commit ourselves to accelerate innovations that have a positive impact on the world. We are the driving force for innovations across the fields of Life Sciences and Sustainability. Our offering of strategic consulting services, funding consulting, project management and more, deliver impactful expertise for all development stages. With a proven track record and the highest quality and success rate in the industry, we aim to be the consulting partner of choice to drive the success of meaningful innovation projects.
