Officials from Boeing and Zero Petroleum signed an agreement at the Dubai Airshow to speed up the development of synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made using the Fischer–Tropsch power-to-liquid process. Developers designed the SAF for use as a 100 percent drop-in fuel, not mixed with jet-A, and naturally containing aromatic compounds that prevent rubber seal damage, according to Zero founder and CEO Paddy Lowe.
“This region is particularly [suitable] for synthetic SAF,” he said, because no base of agricultural feedstocks exist in the Middle East. Other SAF manufacturing processes use such feedstocks, which are more available in countries with large agricultural regions. Because the amount of agricultural feedstock limits how much SAF can be made using those processes, there is no limit on how much synthetic SAF can be produced, he explained.
Synthetic SAF is made from carbon captured from air, using renewable energy for electricity to make hydrogen through electrolysis from water. In June, Zero opened its synthetic fuel plant and development laboratory (Plant Zero.1) in Oxford, UK. The company plans a commercial-scale facility (Plant Zero.2) and expects construction to start next year. Once running it will be able to produce 5,000 to 100,000 tonnes of SAF per year.
The agreement calls for Boeing to set up a testing program for Zero's SAF at the University of Sheffield’s Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) and its SAF research facility.
“In order to get to sustainable aviation and decarbonize aviation, we need to focus on the biggest lever, and SAF is 65 percent of that opportunity in terms of all the other levers that we have to move,” said Sheila Remes, Boeing v-p of environmental engagement and business development. Fleet renewability and operational efficiency represent the other levers. “So 65 percent of the solution is in front of us,” she noted.
At the last Farnborough Airshow, Boeing signed a partnership agreement and became a founding member of the Sheffield Energy Innovation Centre. “We’re the first OEM to sign up for that,” she said. “This is the perfect combination of bringing together government and an innovative company with an academic institution so we can actually help to scale sustainable aviation fuel.”