A climate technology company has successfully produced synthetic aviation fuel from landfill-derived renewable natural gas (RNG) and captured industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) with its Aurora technology platform.<\/p>\n
The fuel was produced on a fully integrated demonstration line equipped with the 2.5-barrel-per-day Aurora Tri-Converter and Aurora Upgrader units. These were linked to an existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor run by Research Triangle Park (RTI).<\/p>\n
Aether Fuels, which is based in the US and Singapore, said that the demonstration covered the whole production process. It reportedly transformed waste-derived gaseous feedstocks into fully upgraded synthetic liquid jet fuel.<\/p>\n
Independent testing firm AmSpec confirmed that samples produced during the demo met the applicable ASTM specifications for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK). \u201cThis is exciting progress for Aether as we march forward towards commercial deployment,\u201d Conor Madigan, Aether Fuels CEO and co-founder, said. <\/p>\n
Jet fuel passes key test<\/p>\n
The demo used mass-balanced renewable natural gas from landfill gas generated in Kentucky alongside captured industrial CO2. The company is believed to be the first in North America to produce ASTM-spec synthetic aviation fuel from mass-balanced RNG and captured industrial CO2 at this scale. <\/p>\n
As per Aether Fuels, the fuel complied with ASTM D7566 requirements applicable to FT-SPK. Under the ASTM D7566 standard, qualifying synthetic fuel can be blended with conventional kerosene<\/a> at concentrations of up to 50 percent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Moreover, the blend requires no modifications to aircraft fuel tanks<\/a>, pipelines, or airport fueling systems. Because the FT-SPK production route is already covered under ASTM D7566, the firm said its fuel does not require the establishment of a new ASTM pathway.<\/p>\n \u201cThis demonstration proves Aether\u2019s ability to scale up our integrated Aurora platform, take a feedstock through the complete end-to-end process, and produce on-spec synthetic aviation fuel<\/a>,\u201d Dhaval Shah, Aether Fuels CTO, said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is the culmination of over a year of hard work by Aether\u2019s R&D team and is a tremendous milestone,\u201d Shah continued, adding that the data collected during the demo is set to cut the technical risks associated with the firm\u2019s next project.<\/p>\n New fuel plant planned<\/p>\n The achievement followed after an earlier Tri-Converter test with GTI Energy. The company now plans to develop Project Beacon, a commercial facility in Singapore with an annual production capacity of 2,000 metric tons. Set to produce around 50 barrels of fuel per day, the plant will have about 20 times the capacity of the latest demonstration equipment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a significant achievement and puts us on the right track to successfully build and operate Project Beacon and the commercial projects that will follow,\u201d Madigan said in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n