Revolutionizing Solar
Fuel Production
About
Solar-to-Butanol
S2B—Solar to Butanol—is a groundbreaking Horizon Europe research and innovation project focused on revolutionizing solar fuel production. With an ambitious budget of over €4 million under the Horizon Europe Cluster 5 program, S2B is spearheading the development of a sustainable and innovative platform for producing butanol, a critical solar fuel, through cutting-edge biotechnology.
S2B represents a significant breakthrough by developing the next generation photosynthetic microbes that efficiently produce butanol, shifting conventional microbial suspensions to an artificial leaf architecture. This innovative approach enhances the efficiency and longevity of solar-driven biocatalysis, making the process far more effective. The project aims to drastically improve the production of n-butanol, a versatile fuel and chemical feedstock, using engineered cyanobacteria and sunlight.
An EU Initiative Answering a European Challenge
Launched in October 2024, S2B is addressing key challenges in renewable energy by advancing technologies that integrate circular economy principles. This includes combining solar energy with direct air capture and waste effluent processing, covering the entire value chain from CO2 capture to fuel production.
A Game-Changer in
Renewable Energy
In response to the growing need for clean energy and the European Union’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, S2B offers a solution that bypasses the limitations of traditional biofuel production methods. Unlike conventional biomass, which competes with food resources and has supply constraints, the S2B platform leverages sunlight and atmospheric CO2 to generate butanol, ensuring zero net carbon emissions during combustion.
“Our key technological innovation is a continuous, long-term platform for direct solar butanol production, using advanced photosynthetic cell factories as biocatalysts. The S2B technology will enhance energy conversion efficiency while being sustainable, reducing production costs and ensuring affordability. At the final stage, we plan to integrate this process with waste effluent and a direct air capture approach. This circular economy concept covers the entire value chain from light harvesting and CO2 capture to butanol separation.“ explains Professor Yagut Allahverdiyeva-Rinne, the consortium coordinator.”
S2B - Solar To Butanol Challenges
For a European sustainable and innovative platform to produce butanol, a valuable solar fuel, using photosynthetic cell factories.
- Unlock the potential of photosynthetic microbes for the direct conversion of solar energy and CO2 into butanol by integrating synthetic biology with advanced photosynthetic engineering.
- Enhance the microbial production of butanol by transitioning from conventional suspension cultivation to a tailored solidstate
biohybrid platform, integrating nanotechnology and circular economy.
Partners
Duration
– September 2028)
Budget
Partners
Duration
– September 2028)