“Sustainable Biofuel from Straw Pellets: TU Darmstadt’s CLARA Project Achieves Success”

Spinning straw into gold? So far, this has only happened in fairy tales. The researchers around Bernd Epple from the TU Darmstadt however, something has been achieved that could at least be worth its weight in gold in times of climate change. In the CLARA project, funded by the EU with five million euros, they worked for four years together with 13 international partners on a new process for the production of sustainable biofuels.

At the end of the term, project manager Epple says: “We have achieved our goal.” In the pilot plant on the university campus, the scientists were able to produce liquid biofuel from straw pellets using gasification technology that uses less energy than conventional methods. According to the professor, the fuel produced in this way is climate-friendly and cheap.