The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could be made from captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen, said Johnson Matthey, a global science and chemicals company that designed a conversion process, called HyCOgen.
The innovative ‘syngas’ HyCOgen opens the bright perspective for the aviation sector. HyCOgen first converts the hydrogen and CO2 into carbon monoxide. This is then combined with additional hydrogen to form ‘syngas’ – a building block for a range of fuels and chemicals.
Next step is combining this process with another existing process (FT CANS), said Johnson Matthey and offered to produce high-quality synthetic crude oil as a final result of these reactions. In fact, 95 per cent of the captured CO2 is converted into synthetic crude oil.
But the long combined process has a key benefit – the integrated HyCOgen/FT CANS solution can be cost-effectively deployed across a wide range of project sizes, Springwise reports.
“Given the challenges associated with new propulsion technologies and airport infrastructure, plus the long asset life of aircraft, there are significant hurdles in moving from hydrocarbon-based aviation fuel to alternatives such as battery electric or hydrogen,” explains Jane Toogood, Sector Chief Executive, Johnson Matthey.
Thanks to the Johnson Matthey’s long-standing expertise, a syngas generation technology can play a crucial role. The idea of sustainable drop-in fuels that are deployable today becomes more actual. For example, United Airlines recently made headlines when it announced the world’s first commercial flight completely powered by sustainable aviation fuel.
