ZHAW wins bid for SWEET funding programme
The "reFuel.ch" consortium, led by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa), has been awarded the SWEET funding programme. The ZHAW is involved in the project with the School of Engineering and the School of Management and Law. The Center for Energy and the Environment is co-leading the project.
The tender on the topic of “Sustainable Fuels and Platform Chemicals” of the SWEET funding programme has been decided: The ZHAW, as part of the ReFuel.ch consortium, has been awarded the contract. The main objective of reFuel.ch (Renewable Fuels and Chemicals for Switzerland) is to improve sustainability and reduce the cost of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals by increasing the efficiency, selectivity and load flexibility of production plants in line with long-term climate policy goals.
The consortium will explore how closing the knowledge gaps on technical and non-technical aspects of sustainable fuels can increase investment certainty. Robust and practical pathways for the introduction of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals into the different markets and into the Swiss energy system will be developed. To this end, contributions from the social, natural and engineering sciences as well as findings from the dialogue with relevant stakeholders will be taken into account. Another goal is to strengthen innovative technologies that currently have a low level of technological maturity. The Centre for Aviation Engineering at the ZHAW School of Engineering will specifically address aviation fuel logistics in order to enable the lowest possible emission transport of operating materials from their production site to the aircraft. Estimates will also be made of the climate impact of alternative aviation fuels at high altitudes. The Center for Energy and the Environment at the ZHAW School of Management and Law, in addition to co-leading the consortium, will specifically investigate the framework conditions that would be necessary for investments along the identified sustainable pathways. This includes an assessment of distribution effects as well as framework conditions for the most efficient integration of new plants into the Swiss electricity market. The call for proposals “Sustainable Fuels and Platform Chemicals” was developed in cooperation with the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) and the Federal Office of Armament (armasuisse). The reFuel.ch consortium was selected in a two-stage procedure. The funding is 15 million Swiss francs.