Flying is the most climate -damaging way of moving away. By burning the fossil fuel kerosene, air traffic has a share of around three percent in global CO2-Missions. Sustainable flight fuels are to remedy this from CO2Water and green electricity are made. Now researchers have made the corresponding production process even more efficient for such e-fuel, which makes a large-scale use of synthetic kerosene closer.
If people are on the go, it almost always causes emissions – but especially when he travels through the air. Air traffic is currently for around three percent of the global CO2-Missions and for five percent of global warming. This is particularly due to the combustion of the fossil fuel kerosene. Modern aircraft need significantly fewer kerosene than older generations, but in order to counteract climate change, the aircraft fuel must be completely replaced by sustainable alternatives in the long term.
From co2 Becomes kerosene
One possibility is to make kerosene and other fuels synthetically using so-called power-to-liquid procedures-and sustainably from CO2Water and green electricity. Researchers from industry and science have now made this process for the production of e-fuel as part of the “Copernicus Projekt P2X” even more efficient. Specifically, they have managed to optimize the production of synthesis gas – a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide based on CO2 And water. In the new configuration, a so-called co-electrolysis module with an output of 220 kilowatts is used.
“The special thing about co-electrolysis is that they are water vapor and co2 In a single step, converted directly into synthesis gas electrochemically and highly efficiently. This eliminates the usual separate hydrogen production with downstream synthetic gas production, which significantly increases the efficiency of the overall procedure to synthetic fuels, ”explains Hubertus Richter from the electrolysebauer Sunfire, one of the industrial partners of the Copernicus project. The synthesis gas is then converted into long -chain hydrocarbons – the so -called syncrude -, which can be used directly for the production of fuels such as kerosene or other chemical products.
Production quantity should increase steadily
Tests from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have already shown that the integration of co-electrolysis works. Under real conditions, the researchers involved were able to produce up to a hundred liters of Syncrude per day. The facility is now expanded for a capacity of up to 300 liters of Syncrude a day, later it should grow even further. “There will be a production on the barrel scale for the first time,” explains Roland Dittmeyer from the Kit. The product, which is continued to synthetic kerosene, is then to be used in engine tests – including at turbine manufacturers. Accompanying analyzes also ensure that the fuel corresponds to the strict standards of aviation.
Source: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology