23-06-2022

Green Fuels Hamburg industrial production of sustainable aviation fuels for climate-neutral aviation

Under the name "Green Fuels Hamburg", the energy supplier Uniper, the energy technology group Siemens Energy, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the chemical and energy company Sasol ecoFT announced that they are investigating the feasibility of a commercial project to produce sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in Germany.

The four project partners cover the entire value-chain to produce CO2-neutral kerosene, so-called power-to-liquid or PtL kerosene for short. They are supported by the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH) as a consultant partner as well as the Hamburg Senate (BWI, BUKEA) and Hamburg Airport. In addition, Emirates Airline has expressed its interest in being involved in the use of the PtL kerosene produced.

"Green Fuels Hamburg" aims to make a significant contribution to de-carbonising the aviation sector. If feasible, the production capacity required would be at least 10 000 tonnes of green kerosene annually for aviation in the first expansion stage from 2026. This means that this plant alone could provide 20% of the blending quota of PtL kerosene specified by the German government in the PtL roadmap from 2026.

As one of the world's leading locations for innovation and aviation, Hamburg offers excellent conditions for this pioneering large-scale project, as the region is close to renewable energies and has the necessary customers in industry and aviation. A large-scale commercial plant for the production of green hydrogen from electricity generated by offshore wind turbines is planned to be built in the area of the Port of Hamburg. The potential PtL fuels plant would be using the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis process, to produce sustainable aviation fuel from green hydrogen and processed biogenic carbon dioxide. The sustainable aviation fuel would be CO2-neutral PtL kerosene, which is already certified for use as aviation fuel.

"Green Fuels Hamburg" could thus be a pioneer for PtL production in Germany and actively supports the ambitions of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg to build a sustainable economy with renewable energy sources.