South Africa's Sasol announced it will work alongside a consortium of European companies comprising Linde, Enertrag and Navitas to work on a concept for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) under the auspices of the German government's H2Global programme.
Plane
SAF is set to play a key role in decarbonising which is often considered a "high-risk" sector - an industry that requires significant technological investments and unanimous effort in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions - alongside other high-pollutant industrial sectors such as concrete or shipping.
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SAF production employs a Power to Liquid (PTL) process, which relies on the supply of a sustainable carbon feedstock (biomass or other unavoidable industrial carbon dioxide sources) and the production of green hydrogen through electrolysis using renewable energy.
The carbon and hydrogen are converted to synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which in turn is converted to longer chain hydrocarbons for the production of jet fuel or SAF via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process.
Sasol is exploring the feasibility of SAF production at its Secunda Synfuels plant with its consortium partners.
The project would leverage Sasol’s existing facilities, deep technical know-how in the FT process and downstream processing capabilities.
“Action on climate change is central to Sasol’s strategy, and we continue to take significant steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated in our production processes,” said Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler.
He added: “The decision to explore the creation of a SAF production demonstration facility at our Secunda Operations is aligned with our long-term decarbonisation strategy. Green hydrogen is one of the key transitional fuel sources that we are working with via various strategic demonstration opportunities and partnerships. The H2Global consortium provides us with a powerful platform to support the development of these new technologies and their applications and markets.
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“Sasol’s expertise in hydrogen and our extensive R&D capabilities, combined with our specialist knowledge of Fischer-Tropsch technology, supports our ambition to play a key role in creating South Africa’s hydrogen economy.”
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