The final event of GOLD project, Advanced biofuels and phytoremediation – bridging the gap and opportunities for the management of contaminated agricultural land was held on 29 April 2025 in Bertinoro, Italy, and online. This event served as a crucial platform to share the significant findings and advancements achieved within the GOLD project. The event brought together researchers, EU policymakers, local stakeholders and regulators, environmental management companies and other EU projects, to discuss the potential applications, lessons learned, and future directions for growing energy crops on contaminated soils across Europe to produce clean, low-ILUC risk biofuels. The event featured presentations highlighting key aspects of the GOLD project’s research and findings, setting the stage for broader discussions on the implementation of these innovative approaches.
Maria Georgiadou, European Commission DG RTD, provided a valuable overview of European policy and support for renewable fuels innovation. Her presentation highlighted key policy initiatives planned for 2025, in the framework of the new EU Competitiveness Compass and of the Clean Industrial Deal, as well as the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan up to 2027.
She underscored the vital role of biofuels, especially advanced biofuels, in reducing emissions within the transport sector, aligning with the Fit for 55 package and overall climate neutrality goals. She also pointed out that biofuels contribute to boosting the EU’s industrial competitiveness, gross domestic product (GDP), and net employment. This role is anticipated to become even more significant as advanced biofuel technologies scale up, driven by ambitious policies and sustained research & innovation support.
Slides – European policy and support for renewable fuels innovation
Eleni G. Papazoglou, Agricultural University of Athens, highlighted the substantial potential offered by potentially contaminated agricultural land across the EU for biomass production and environmental restoration. The project conducted extensive field trials to evaluate various industrial crops (sorghum, hemp, miscanthus, switchgrass) on these challenging sites. Sorghum emerged as the most productive and efficient bioenergy crop across multiple locations, demonstrating strong adaptability and high biomass yields. Sorghum also showed significant potential for accumulating heavy metals, particularly cadmium, lead, zinc and notably antimony, a metalloid that few plant species have been shown to take up efficiently. Other crops like hemp and miscanthus can contribute to phytomanagement and displayed valuable tolerance to pollutants, with potential for accumulating contaminants such as copper and nickel, although generally being less efficient for soil remediation than sorghum. Promising biostimulant treatments like humic/fulvic acids and mycorrhizal fungi were also tested in the four industrial crops biomass and were effective in enhancing biomass growth and metal accumulation. The cultivation of these energy crops on contaminated land offers potential for biomass production for low ILUC biofuels, combined with enhanced environmental co-benefits beyond decontamination, such as erosion prevention, reduced leaching of contaminants, carbon sequestration, and increased biodiversity.
Slides – Industrial crops optimized for phytoremediation
Marcel Dossow, Technical University of Munich, presented the results of the research component on biomass pre-treatment, processing and upgrading of clean biofuels. Two main process routes were explored: one involving biomass pre-treatment (Torwash®, slow pyrolysis and torrefaction) followed by entrained flow gasification, gas cleaning, syngas fermentation, and another involving biomass autothermal pyrolysis, catalytic cracking and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. This research highlighted the potential of both pre-treatment and thermochemical conversion processes to concentrate and manage contaminants, mitigating the risks associated with using biomass from contaminated land for energy production. Torwash® demonstrated effective partitioning of heavy metals into a liquid stream for potential removal and humic acid recovery under optimised conditions. Slow pyrolysis and torrefaction can concentrate pollutants (e.g., 90% and 88% respectively) in the solid residue.
Slides – Conversion processes for clean liquid biofuel production
Berien Elbersen, Wageningen University presented on mapping EU contaminated land and scenarios for phytoremediation. The work distinguished between diffuse and point source pollution, using spatial analysis techniques to map potentially contaminated areas suitable for phytoremediation. It was estimated that in the EU27 and UK, the agricultural area contaminated by diffuse pollution and suitable for phytoremediation, ranges between 14 and 22 million hectares, yielding a substantial biomass potential of 162 to 315 million tonnes of dry matter. This biomass could potentially produce 14 to 44 million tonnes of bioethanol. For point source contaminated lands, the estimated suitable area was 2 million hectares (0.5% of the total area of EU27+UK), with a biomass potential of 16 to 30 million tonnes of dry matter and a bioethanol potential of 1.4 to 4.2 million tonnes, depending on the assumptions for the technologies used.
Slides – Mapping EU contaminated land and scenarios for phytoremediation
Edoardo Miliotti, RE-CORD, covered the integrated value chain assessment, economic and environmental aspects of producing biofuels from contaminated land. The project evaluated over 120 combinations of phytoremediation configurations and biomass conversion pathways, focusing on 17 key value chains across five EU case study soils and four crops. Data from field trials informed agricultural phase modelling, indicating sorghum as the best-performing crop. Logistics modelling considered centralised and decentralised plant sizes. The economic assessment revealed that GOLD biofuel costs are significantly higher than conventional petrol or 2G ethanol, with biomass pre-treatment and process complexity being major cost drivers, although this assessment did not include the economic benefits of land restoration. Social sustainability assessment highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement, addressing gender inequity in land ownership, and mitigating health and safety risks across the value chain sectors. Key issues include the high cost of conversion routes and feedstock calendar availability, leading to recommendations for multi-biomass strategies, efficiency improvements, and robust social safeguards.
Slides – Integrated value chain assessment, economic and environmental aspects
Local stakeholders roundtable
Pietro Peroni from the University of Bologna discussed the readiness to implement phytomanagement systems with energy crops in contaminated soils, focusing on the Italian context. Italy is a significant biofuel producer in Europe and has a database of remediation procedures (Mosaico), though data on site-specific contamination and technical area sizes (often less than 1 ha) present challenges. Biomass from contaminated sites is considered as waste in Italy and requires traceable management. While some metal removal was observed in GOLD, the estimated metal removal rates in the GOLD case studies are quite low, (except for zinc and cadmium), suggesting an approach more oriented towards phytostabilisation and phytomanagement of contaminated soils, rather than phytoremediation. Annual crops like sorghum provided higher biomass and metal phytoextraction yields, but require yearly soil preparation and rotation. Despite lower efficiency, perennial crops (e.g. miscanthus, switchgrass) require lower maintenance and can provide added ecosystem benefits.
Slides – Are we ready to implement phytomanagement systems with energy crops in contaminated soils
International roundtable
The final panel of the event, titled Developing Synergies between phytomanagement and clean biofuels brought together representatives from several EU-funded projects tackling related aspects of using biomass from potentially contaminated land for renewable energy. The aim was to share insights, identify common challenges, and outline future directions.
The panel featured contributions from the following Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects:
- CERESIS Contaminated land remediation through energy crops for soil improvement to liquid biofuel strategies- Slides
- Phy2Climate: Clean biofuel production and phytoremediation solutions from contaminated lands worldwide- Slides
- ICARUS: International cooperation for sustainable aviation biofuels – Slides
- EDAPHOS: Advanced mapping, risk assessment and nature-based depollution methods are combined to accelerate the recovery of contaminated soils- Slides
- GOLD: Our project presented a roadmap and a deployment scenario from 2025 to 2050 – Slides.
A significant hurdle identified was the legal classification of biomass obtained in contaminated areas, which is often considered waste, and thus necessitates specialized handling and clearer, standardized regulations across the EU. Economically, producing biofuels from such biomass remains challenging, and there is a crucial need to recognize and value the significant societal and environmental benefits of land remediation. The panel emphasized that site-specific conditions greatly influence phytoremediation efficiency, requiring tailored strategies for optimal contaminant removal or stabilization. A shift towards phytomanagement strategies, focusing on sustainable biomass production while containing contaminants and improving soil quality, appears more promising than aiming for complete soil decontamination. Comprehensive integrated sustainability assessments, covering environmental, economic, and social aspects, are vital. The need for multi-biomass approaches, innovative logistics, and enhanced data sharing and modeling among projects was also underscored to ensure consistent feedstock supply and the development of effective implementation strategies.
You can watch the recording of the entire event below.
