Honeywell announces tech to convert hydrogen and CO2 into aviation fuel
Honeywell International Inc unveiled a new technique to convert hydrogen and CO2 into aviation fuel. The carbon dioxide is recovered from industry, which could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, which is one of the most difficult sectors to electrify and decarbonize. SAF, or sustainable aviation fuel, is primarily produced from biomass-based feedstocks such as soybean oil and spent cooking oil. Honeywell’s breakthrough technique would mix green hydrogen (made in electrolyzers from renewable energy and water) and carbon dioxide extracted from industrial smokestacks to make lower-carbon methanol, which would subsequently be converted into fuels like as SAF.
According to Honeywell, this technique may cut greenhouse gas emissions by 88% when compared to typical petroleum-based jet fuel. As part of its attempts to combat climate change, President Joe Biden’s administration has set a target of 3 billion gallons (11.4 billion litres) of SAF production each year in the United States by 2030.
“It’s exciting because CO2 is available everywhere so you have a universally available feedstock,” Lucian Boldea, Honeywell’s President of Performance Materials and Technologies
Honeywell is a major producer of aviation avionics, as well as miniature jet engines known as Auxiliary Power Units, which are used to power electrical and other systems. Its revelation of fuel technology adds to a growing list of efforts aimed at extending SAF feedstocks. It is also the most recent in a string of announcements by aerospace industries attempting to reduce carbon emissions from aviation, which account for approximately 2-3% of global emissions. According to experts, radical new engine technology will not be accessible until the following decade, implying that the near-term focus should be on creating more ecologically friendly fuels.
Honeywell said that energy producer HIF Global has agreed to be the first to adopt its innovative technology. HIF Global intends to use the technology at a facility that will recycle around 2 million tonnes of trapped carbon dioxide to produce approximately 11,000 bpd of SAF by 2030.