The concept proposed in CERESiS is to combine contaminated land characteristics and phytoremediation techniques using energy crops with advanced integrated technologies for conversion to liquid biofuel and contaminant separation, thus developing integrated pathways for biofuel production from contaminated land.

CERESiS will develop the framework for win-win global solutions to achieve land decontamination and clean biofuel production. This framework will take the form of a decision support system for stakeholders and policy makers that will take into consideration all the critical parameters affecting the best choice of energy crops, the most appropriate cultivation and harvesting methods, conversion and separation technologies and supply chain design, to propose optimal pathways for each individual case of site, area, region or country. It will form an expandable, modular, open access platform and will be able to incorporate parametric data about any site worldwide for stakeholders wishing to produce biofuels while decontaminating land.

The project concept is structured on three key interlinked pillars that are also reflected in the presented main objectives and their specific objectives, the project methodology and the WP structure. Each pillar is investigated under a dedicated WP, while their focus demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of the project. There is a tight linking and interdependency between the three pillars that also strengthens the coherence and realization potential of the whole concept, as also presented in the figure below.