On Tuesday, Boeing and Zero Petroleum announced they would be collaborating on the next generation of technologies to advance sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
For Boeing, the partnership represents investments in SAF globally as part of a continuing effort to reduce aviation industry emissions and support the industry’s goals of net zero y 2050, officials said.
British company Zero Petroleum manufactures whole-blend and 100 percent fossil free synthetic fuels, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The company’s technology produces SAF from air and water, the company said. By obtaining carbon from direct air capture and hydrogen from water electrolysis, the technology has the potential to reduce emissions across the fuel lifecycle, provided there is an abundance of renewable energy, officials said.
Under the agreement between the two companies, Boeing will establish a testing program for Zero’s SAF at the University of Sheffield’s Energy Innovation Center and at its SAF research facility.
“SAF is our industry’s biggest lever in reducing emissions today and into the future, but we need more of it now to enable those reductions,” Sheila Remes, Boeing vice president of environmental sustainability, said. “Working with innovators around the world such as Zero is crucial as we collaborate to develop new, sustainable pathways to produce and scale-up SAF.”
In exchange, Zero will benefit from Boeing’s partnership by being able to test, mature and scale SAF using the EIC and Boeing’s global aerospace expertise.
“The aviation industry needs to move quickly to meet upcoming mandates for de-fossilization and synthetic fuels provide the only fully scalable solution,” Paddy Lowe, CEO of Zero, said. “We have already developed and tested our 100 percent drop-in synthetic jet fuel and collaborating with Boeing will now enable us to accelerate the qualification process and put us on course for commercial delivery by 2026. Our collaboration with Boeing sets an industry precedent for the recognition and support for synthetic fuels in the global pivot to sustainable solutions.”