Phytomanagement of Contaminated Land to Produce Biofuels for the Maritime Sector: A feasibility study

Report, 2025

This study investigates the feasibility of phytomanagement— the long-term combination of profitable crop production with gentle remediation options (GRO) for risk management and providing environmental co-benefits like ecosystem services—for producing valuable biomass that can be used to produce biofuels suitable for the maritime sector. A focus of this study has been to identify and assess the potential of different bioenergy crops for phytoremediation and the technological maturity for producing different types of biofuels, including key challenges or barriers and associated environmental co-benefits. Several bioenergy crops were selected upon review of the scientific literature, which were separated broadly into oil crops (e.g., rapeseed, sunflower, mustard, etc.) and lignocellulosic crops (e.g., willow, poplar, sorghum, other grasses). The selected bioenergy crops were evaluated according to both their phytoremediation capability and technological feasibility (i.e., technology readiness level, TRL) for use as feedstock to produce various biofuels.

In general, biofuel production involves a series of processes including pre-treatment, conversion (thermochemical, biochemical, and chemical), and refining. These processes yield various types of biofuels such as biodiesel, ethanol, and biomethane, but differ depending on the type of biomass. An important challenge is that the presence of contaminants in the biomass produced during phytomanagement, particularly metal(loid)s, can negatively impact the resulting biofuel quality, especially from thermal conversion. Specific pre- or post-treatment methods may be necessary as well as managing by-products and waste since contaminants may accumulate in ashes, biochar, digestate, etc. that necessitate waste management and emission control systems that may pose complications to their usage.

The most feasible pathways forward for phytomanagement and biofuel production are likely a combination of a short-term and a long-term strategy. A short-term strategy utilises primarily first-generation energy oilseed crops like rapeseed, sunflower and mustard (biodiesel/HVO) and sugar-rich crops like sorghum (bioethanol) for phytomanagement and biofuel production due to the well-established markets and high TRL >7. A long-term strategy employs second-generation biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass (grasses and trees), which has a greater net benefit but is not yet a mature technology (TRL 3-5), but can be more advantageous when the technology has sufficiently developed. Marginal and contaminated lands across Europe—particularly in regions like central and eastern Europe, northern Italy, eastern Germany, and northern France—present a significant opportunity for bioenergy crop cultivation. These areas often comprise abandoned agricultural land of good quality with proximity to existing or potential biorefineries, enhancing logistical and financial feasibility. However, while technically feasible, ensuring the financial viability of phytomanagement projects remains a significant challenge and there are important issues to address in developing the business model for different stakeholders.