Johnson Matthey revealed the launch of HyCOgen, a reverse water gas shift technology designed to help enable the conversion of captured CO₂ and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

By combining HyCOgen with the FT CANS Fischer Tropsch technology (developed in collaboration with bp), Johnson Matthey offers an integrated, scalable solution for use in the efficient and cost-effective production of renewable power based SAF.

HyCOgen is a catalyzed process to convert green hydrogen and CO₂ into carbon monoxide, which is combined with additional hydrogen to form synthesis gas (syngas), a crucial building block in the manufacture of fuels and chemicals. The integration with the FT CANS technology provides an end to end, optimized and highly scalable process that turns over 95% of the CO₂ into high quality synthetic crude oil. This synthetic crude oil can be further upgraded into sustainable drop-in fuel products including aviation fuels, renewable diesel and naphtha.

The scalability of the integrated HyCOgen/FT CANS solution enables cost-effective deployment across a wide range of project sizes – from small-scale, fed by hydrogen from a single electrolyzer through to world-scale with multiple large electrolyzer modules.

The global aviation industry is responsible for 12%¹ of transport related CO₂ emissions, therefore substantial production of low carbon intensity SAF is essential to mitigate emissions. Both the EU² and U.S.³ are setting bold targets for its scale up and blending, and this is expected to increase SAF demand significantly. Johnson Matthey's HyCOgen solution, along with the FT CANS technology, can help increase the supply of SAF through its efficient production at scale.

"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," said Jane Toogood, Sector Chief Executive, Johnson Matthey. "This is where Johnson Matthey's longstanding expertise and market-leading position in syngas generation technology can play a crucial role, by providing solutions that enable the production of sustainable drop-in fuels that are deployable today."

 

1. ATAG (Air Transport Action Group) Sept 2020
2. The European Commission has proposed regulation mandating minimum SAF blending volumes in aviation fuel, rising from 2% (2025) to 5% (2030) and 63% (2050).
3. In the U.S., the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge aims to scale up SAF production to 11 B liters annually by 2030 and to eventually meet the country's entire aviation fuel demand by 2050