Making sustainable aviation fuel with gasification

As part of a £1.2 million project, CSS is investigating how waste can be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Decarbonizing the aviation industry is one of the biggest challenges in the fight against climate change.

Other transportation sectors have seen early successes using electrification and alternative fuels, but the high energy-density requirements of aircraft fuel present major obstacles.

SAF can be used in existing aircraft engines without modification, potentially reducing carbon emissions by up to 80% compared with conventional jet fuel.

The project – initiated by BEIS (since replaced by DESNZ) – will test the production of SAF using gasification, syngas clean-up and a process called Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). This process converts syngas into a petroleum-like product that can be converted into a range of transportation-grade liquid hydrocarbons.

A demonstration on a MicroHub 500 will be taking place at the end of 2024.