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3rd Annual Conference of the SWEET Consortium reFuel.ch Highlights Implementation Pathways for Sustainable Fuels

The 3rd annual conference of the SWEET Consortium reFuel.ch brought together 88 participants from research, industry, and public administration at the Akademie at Empa in Dübendorf to discuss implementation options for Sustainable Aviation Fuels and Power-to-X technologies in Switzerland and abroad. For those who were unable to attend in person, the following overview compiles the key insights, findings, and takeaways presented throughout the day.
September 21, 2026
reFuel.ch

The morning session addressed the regulatory and policy landscapes shaping sustainable fuel deployment.

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Swiss Policy and International Legal Frameworks

  • Swiss Policy Analysis: Paula Castro (ZHAW) presented an overview of the Swiss legal and policy space for Sustainable Fuels and Platform Chemicals (SFPC) markets, with a focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). She outlined key market failures—including negative externalities, innovation spillovers, coordination failures, and information asymmetries—and evaluated remaining policy gaps. Download the presentation here.
  • Assessment of International Policies: Anna Panarella (USI) highlighted that international law offers more space for designing SAF support policies than commonly assumed. She warned that weakening ambitions could impede investment and emphasized flexible economic instruments like Contracts for Difference (CfDs). Regionally, Switzerland could either align fully with EU regulations to benefit from integration into the European SAF market or position itself as a complementary, cost-competitive destination for SAF imports. Download the presentation here.

Domestic SAF Supply Chains and Policy Insights

  • Logistics & Facility Allocation: Viola Rühlin (ZHAW) analyzed domestic SAF production logistics in Switzerland. Her model demonstrated that establishing a single production facility is preferable to a distributed multi-site setup, noting that conditioning, handling, and storage costs must be evaluated alongside transport expenses. Download the presentation here.
  • Panel Discussion (WP1–WP3): Consortium co-lead Regina Betz (ZHAW) moderated a synthesis discussion linking regulatory, economic, and supply chain findings. Download the presentation here.
  • Case Presentation: Christian Bach (Empa) concluded the morning presentations by sharing practical industry context. Download the presentation here.

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Following a lunch break accompanied by an interactive poster session where attendees engaged directly with project researchers, the conference reconvened for the afternoon program. The afternoon session opened with a keynote address on future refinery concepts, followed by a presentation about broader biomass utilization:

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Biomass Potential and Green Refineries

  • Integrated Concepts for Future Green Refineries: Nicolaus Dahmen (KIT) kicked off the afternoon program with a keynote outlining scalable concept designs for green refinery infrastructure. He highlighted that refineries are highly specialised industrial systems and therefore difficult to adapt to new processes. A key question for the transition towards sustainable fuels is whether future production should rely on large, centralised refineries or a network of smaller, decentralised facilities with specialised processes tailored to local resources and needs.
  • Unlocking Manure's Biogas Potential: Sandrine Werner (ETHZ) presented a Swiss case study on manure as an underused bioenergy resource. While Swiss livestock generates 24 million tons of fresh manure annually (~48 PJ of theoretical primary energy), only ~5% is currently harnessed for energy, despite contributing ~16% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning manure to energy pathways reduces climate impact by 26–36% compared to direct field application. Download the presentation here.

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Following a networking coffee break, the final session showcased technical breakthroughs across several reFuel.ch work packages.

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Technological Innovations in Lab-Scale Pathways

  • CO₂ Electrolysis (WP4): Claudia Bissattini Alessi (Empa) presented findings from Empa, PSI, and EPFL on catalyst layer stability. Their work show continuous electrolysis reaches a selectivity plateau, whereas pulsing at 0.50 V regenerates local pH and yields a five-fold improvement in CO selectivity. Machine learning applications for gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) and novel bipolar membrane developments were also highlighted. Download the presentation here.
  • Green Methanol Synthesis (WP5): Riccardo Puragliesi (SUPSI) presented the reFuel.ch Toolbox (developed with industry partner Casale) for flexible CO₂-to-methanol conversion. The toolbox combines a material properties database with process-system evaluations to optimize methanol as an adaptable energy carrier and platform chemical. Download thepresentation here.
  • Oligomerization of Olefins (WP7): Andreas Borgschulte (Empa) detailed advancements in converting methanol to sustainable fuels. Addressing reactor heat control in gas-phase operations, researcher Alessia Cesarini identified a liquid-reaction mechanism—dissolving olefins in hexane under high pressure—to improve heat transport, provide intrinsic temperature control, and minimize coking. Download the presentation here.

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Looking Ahead

In her closing remarks, co-consortium lead Regina Betz (ZHAW) previewed the upcoming, invite-only reFuel.ch Round Table on November 10, which will focus on Renewable (Platform) Chemicals and Reserve Power Plants. She also called on early-career researchers to contribute to the Energy Talks in Disentis in January 2027.

The organizational team would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants for the lively discussions, thoughtful questions, and valuable exchanges throughout the day. To stay updated on future events, research progress, and consortium updates, make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter.

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Research Paper Energy & Environmental Science
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Haber–Bosch 2.0 for low-carbon ammonia production: a global techno-economic and environmental assessment

Decentralized ammonia production via electric Haber–Bosch (Haber–Bosch 2.0) could support shipping, chemical manufacturing, and local fertilizer supply chains. Unlike conventional Haber–Bosch systems, Haber–Bosch 2.0 technologies operate at lower pressures (∼30–60 bar) and temperatures (∼400 °C), enabling smaller, modular ammonia systems powered by low-carbon electricity. However, its economic viability and environmental performance under diverse conditions remain unclear. Here, we apply techno-economic and environmental life cycle assessment using a novel, open-source framework to optimally design ∼13 000 grid-connected, hybrid, and off-grid electric Haber–Bosch configurations worldwide. Our results demonstrate that decentralized ammonia production costs are between €740–4100 tNH3−1, which is substantially higher compared to centralized ammonia production (∼300 tNH3−1 historically with recent spikes up to ∼€800 tNH3−1). Hybrid configurations exhibit the lowest costs (€740–2090 tNH3−1), particularly in regions with low grid electricity prices, low capital costs, and/or abundant renewables. However, their GHG emissions vary widely depending on the GHG intensity of the local grid. Off-grid systems exhibit the lowest life cycle GHG emissions (on average 0.70 tCO2-eq. tNH3−1), but demonstrate high costs (more than €1100 tNH3−1), driven by oversized renewables and energy storage media to enable continuous Haber–Bosch operation. Cost parity may be achieved by 2050 through technology learning, especially for hybrid systems (€325 tNH3−1). To realize this potential and secure low-carbon fertilizer supply, policymakers should; (1) accelerate the decarbonization of national power grids, (2) provide early-stage deployment support for flexible, electric Haber–Bosch technologies, and (3) establish clear certification standards for low-carbon ammonia.
October 9, 2026
blog post of reFuel
The FOCA Aviation and Climate Funding Programme supports innovative projects to reduce aviation emissions—particularly in the field of renewable synthetic aviation fuels.
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Strong interest in FOCA Aviation and Climate Funding Programme

More than 50 participants joined a reFuel.ch coordination meeting to exchange insights and explore collaboration opportunities ahead of the upcoming call.
October 9, 2026
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Research Paper Energy & Fuels
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Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of Alternative Fuels and Carbon Capture in Swiss Gas-Fired Power Plants

Carbon-neutral energy systems will rely heavily on electrification and intermittent renewables, thereby increasing the need for flexible technologies such as gas turbines. Using alternative fuels in gas turbines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support net-zero goals, but their full life-cycle emissions impact has not been evaluated yet. This study presents a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of simple cycle gas turbines (SCGTs) in Switzerland, evaluating their performance with various alternative fuels and the potential integration of carbon capture technologies. The analysis considers domestically produced biomethane (from wood chips or biogas) and four e-fuels─e-hydrogen, e-methane, e-ammonia, and e-Fischer-Tropsch (e-FT) fuels─synthesized in regions with cost-effective renewable electricity in Spain, Iceland, and the Netherlands. Regarding carbon capture, we investigate both storage (CCS) and utilization (CCU), considering storage sites in Italy and Norway. The assessment covers multiple impact categories across 2035 and 2050. The results show that domestic biomethane provides a practical and climate-friendly option, reducing life-cycle climate impacts by nearly 80% in the near term and approaching 90% in the long term. In contrast, e-methane does not exceed an 80% reduction in the long term even under its most favorable production pathways. Both biomethane and e-methane can offer net-negative emissions if combined with CCS. Domestic CCU does not offer any environmental advantage if liquefying and transporting hydrogen (H2), instead of directly importing e-methane via pipeline. Multimodal transport increases environmental impacts compared to pipeline transport across several categories. Beyond climate impacts, alternative fuel production introduces trade-offs across most categories compared with natural gas. This study underscores that minimizing greenhouse gas emissions alone is insufficient and that system-level assessments are essential to minimize overall environmental impacts in future flexible power systems.
October 9, 2026
blog post of reFuel
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