PILLAR
Unique PILot infrastructure for innovative catalytic biorefinery of Lignocellulosic material to functional bio-ARomatics.
Show project info
Lignin in flight: can wood residues power European aviation?
The aviation sector faces a major hurdle in defossilization, as aircraft require lightweight, energy-dense liquid fuels, which make electrification difficult. A promising solution lies in biobased chemistry to replace fossil fuels. One particular interesting feedstock is lignocellulosic biomass, derived from wood and other plant material. A new perspective article in ChemSusChem, co-authored by researchers from KU Leuven and TotalEnergies, explores whether lignin—a major natural component of lignocellulosic biomass—can sustainably fuel European air travel.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) requires a sufficient fraction of cyclic hydrocarbons, specifically naphthenes and aromatics, to meet strict safety and performance standards for flight. Currently, most approved SAF processes yield mainly linear (paraffinic) alkanes derived from lipids or alcohols, which contain very few of these necessary cyclic structures. Because lignin is naturally composed of aromatic rings, it is an ideal renewable precursor. The researchers demonstrated that through a "lignin-first" biorefinery approach—such as Reductive Catalytic Fractionation (RCF)—and subsequent hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), lignin can be efficiently converted into the essential cyclic hydrocarbons needed for jet fuel. To this point the article states the following: ‘Approximately 50 wt% of conventional jet fuels consist of linear n- and iso- alkanes, making synthetic fuels containing only paraffines insufficient to meet the required specifications. For this reason, such synthetic components for SAF can only be used when blended with conventional jet fuels within specific approved limits. Importantly, a fully synthetic drop-in SAF would indirectly require 50 wt% cyclic hydrocarbons—naphthenes and/or aromatics—to comply with the essential physical properties.’ The figure below illustrates this.
Is there enough wood in Europe?
Crucially, the study provides a mass-balancing exercise across Europe. The authors found that by utilizing just the industrial wood residues (like sawdust and bark) and post-consumer wood, coupled with modernizing the current pulping industry, Europe could potentially generate enough lignin to meet the ReFuelEU Aviation blending mandate for 2050 (starting with 2% SAF in 2025, 6% in 2030, and rising to 70% in 2050). This pathway allows the aviation industry to defossilize without cutting down extra forests or competing with food production.
A pioneering collaboration between KU Leuven and TotalEnergies
The strategic partnership between KU Leuven (academia) and TotalEnergies (industry)—both active members of Catalisti—highlights the critical synergy needed to accelerate biobased innovations. By working together, they are ensuring that sustainable chemical building blocks can move from the pilot reactor into commercial aviation markets.
Moonshot Flanders and the PILLAR project
This research directly ties into the goals of Moonshot Flanders, a long-term innovation program coordinated by the Catalisti cluster to make Flemish industry carbon-circular by 2050. To bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial application, the development of these lignin-first technologies is currently being scaled up at KU Leuven’s Biocon pilot facility. The Biocon pilot was made possible by Moonshot’s PILLAR project, establishing it as a leader in bio-aromatics.
Complementing the Mix: The SAFARI Project
While lignin offers a powerful pathway to sustainable aviation, Moonshot Flanders is also exploring other innovative routes to defossilize the skies. The SAFARI project tackles the challenge by converting aqueous bio-ethanol into essential SAF precursors. Unlike traditional methods that require high temperatures and energy-intensive distillation, SAFARI utilizes a groundbreaking electrified, continuous-flow reactor that operates at low temperatures (under 60°C). This novel approach eliminates the need to separate water from bio-ethanol and removes the requirement for separate hydrogen production, drastically reducing energy consumption and costs. The result is a highly competitive, clean-burning fuel, free of sulfur and soot-forming compounds, that positions logistics hubs like Flanders to successfully meet the ReFuelEU Aviation mandates.
Read the ChemSusChem article here:
From Lignocellulosic Biomass to the Skies: Can Lignin Fuel European Air Travel?
Bruno Pandalone, Deepak Raikwar, Francesco Brandi, Thuan A. Vo, Wouter Arts, Sander Van den Bosch, Elien Lemmens, Walter Vermeiren, Louis Beauté, Bert F. Sels, ChemSusChem 2026, 19, e202502363. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202502363
Watch a video about the Biocon pilot facility:
This video provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Biocon pilot facility, illustrating how the lignin-first technology discussed in the article is physically being scaled up for industrial biofuel applications.
