6th Sustainable Oils & Fats International Congress 2027 (SOFIC)

French consultancy FAT & Associés, which specialises in oilseeds, oils and lipids, is holding the 6th Sustainable Oils & Fats International Congress (SOFIC 2027) on 25 and 26 March 2027 as a virtual event. The congress gathers industrial and institutional players and decision-makers around the latest developments in sustainability, on the basis that sustainability now goes well beyond palm or soybean sourcing to include new sourcing, technologies, supply chains, certification systems and claims worldwide.

Programme

All times are CET.

Day 1 — Thursday 25 March 2027 (from 13:50)

Session 1 — Recycling, Upcycling & Limiting Wastes:

• From Fryer to Freeway: Waste Cooking Oils as Sustainable Road Binders — Clémence Queffelec (University of Nantes, France).
• From Waste to Value: SOUJI's Circular Revolution — Sergio Fernandez (Souji, Spain).
• Navigating EU Policy for First Generation Biofuels — Cian Delaney (Transport & Environment, Belgium).
• From Fields to Flights! A Journey from Sunflowers to SAF — Etienne Bouquet (Corteva Agriscience, Switzerland).
• Oil-containing Crops in Latin America to Support EU Advanced Biofuels — Caio Sousa (S&P Global Energy, Brazil).
• Renewable Natural Oil: Expanding the Feedstock Landscape for HEFA and Renewable Fuels — Moji Karimi (Cemvita, USA).

Day 2 — Friday 26 March 2027

Session 2 — Low Carbon Oils & Fats (from 08:30):

• Transforming Plant Leaves into Biofuel Factories — Xue-Rong Zhou (CSIRO, Australia).
• Unlocking the Potential of Pongamia Oil for Next-Generation PHA Bioplastics — Priyanka Toshniwal (Ecopha Biotech, Australia).
• Comparative Study on the Sustainability of Vegetable Oils — Wolter Elbersen (Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands).
• Circular Economy Doctrine for Regenerative Agriculture — Poon Wai Ching (Taylor's University, Malaysia).
• Kernel's Approaches to Ensuring Low-Carbon Food Production — Marta Trofimova (Kernel, Ukraine).
• Panel: Anticipating Zero Carbon Oils & Fats by 2050?

Session 3 — Alternatives to Palm Oil (from 14:00):

• The Race to Replace Palm Oil: Who's Ahead? — Fabrice Turon (FAT & Associés, France).
• Climate Butter: A Fermentation-Derived Emollient with Reduced Land Use and Carbon Footprint — Philipp Arbter (Colipi, Germany).
• From CO₂ to Lipids: A Sustainable Carbon Source for Fats and Oils — Susanne Heldmaier (Mibelle, Switzerland).
• Sustainable oil through a carbon-footprint lens — Gareth Davies (Tunley Environmental, UK).
• Beyond Palm Oil: Structuring Palm Oil-Free Lipid Bases for Food Applications — Vanessa Alves (Unicamp, Brazil).
• Enzymatic Glycerolysis of Oils as a Path to Sustainable and Healthy Fats — Alejandro Marangoni (University of Guelph, Canada).
• Panel: Changing Paradigm & Producing Vegetable Fats in the Northern Hemisphere.

The congress closes at 16:30.

Participants

Attending companies include Cargill, Corteva Agriscience, Kernel, S&P Global Energy, Grupa Wilmar, Stéarinerie Dubois and Apetit, alongside universities and research centres from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Brazil and Malaysia. The congress is sponsored by Kernel and the Low Carbon Club.

Registration

Registration is open on the FAT & Associés website via the registration button on this page. Enquiries: contact@fat-associes.com, tel. +33 567 339 206.