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ITAKA is a collaborative project framed in the implementation of the European Union (EU) policies. In particular, it supports the implementation of the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative (EIBI) of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan). It specifically aims to contribute to the fulfilment of some of the short-term objectives (2015) of the EU Advanced Biofuels Flight Path initiative, the goal of which is to reach a target of 2 million tons of biofuels used in European civil aviation by 2020. 

As the first-of-its-kind project in the European Union, ITAKA will link supply and demand by establishing commercial relationships under guaranteed conditions among feedstock growers, biofuel producers, distributors and end-users. 

ITAKA targets camelina oil as the best sustainable feedstock that can be produced timely at enough quantity within Europe to produce biojet fuel. The oil is converted into drop-in aviation fuel through the HEFA (Hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) pathway. On the other hand, used cooking oil (UCO) is also being assessed for its use as biojet fuel feedstock.

ITAKA addresses challenges in two main areas:

• Development of commercial scale production and study of the implications of a large-scale use;
  
  
• Research on sustainability, economic competitiveness and technology readiness.
  
  

The generated knowledge will allow to identify and address barriers to innovation and commercial deployment.

ITAKA project work plan relies on the following Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

• WP1 is aiming at improving key aspects of camelina cultivation, including economic, social and environmental sustainability aspects (productivity and land use will in particular be considered).
• WP2 includes the research tasks related to the conversion technology.
• WP3 includes demonstration tasks related to the improvement of logistics (while the main demonstration tasks of the supply chain are carried out in WP7).
• WP4 covers the research tasks for the flight testing phase. 
• WP5 will focus on sustainability, gathering technical, economic, social and environmental data to assess the impacts, effects and regulatory implications of the large-scale use of biofuels in aviation. 
• WP6 contains the tasks related to the Plan of Use and Dissemination of Foreground created in ITAKA, complemented with networking and outreach activities, including the development of an Advisory Group.
• WP7 comprises the demonstration activities of the project and will consist in producing large enough biofuel batches to enable the demonstration of large scale supply and operational use. These activities include feedstock production, conversion technology, logistics, supply and in-flight use.
• WP8 comprises the project management and Consortium Coordination.