Johnson Matthey launches HyCOgen sustainable aviation fuel technology

Johnson Matthey has launched an innovative technology—HyCOgen™—designed to play a pivotal role in enabling the conversion of captured carbon dioxide (CO2) and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By combining HyCOgen with the award-winning 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, Johnson Matthey’s Reverse Water Gas Shift technology, is a catalyzed process to convert green hydrogen and CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), 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 percent 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 percent of transport-related CO2 emissions, therefore substantial production of low carbon intensity SAF is essential to mitigate emissions. Both the EU and U.S. 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, Johnson Matthey’s sector chief executive. “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. By combining HyCOgen with FT CANS, we can now deliver customers a cost-efficient, reliable and scalable technology to help increase SAF production, backed by our track record of successful technology development and commercialization.”

The integrated HyCOgen/FT CANS solution is available now from Johnson Matthey.