Wood, Honeywell pair technologies for carbon-neutral SAF

Wood and Honeywell announced Sept. 23 a comprehensive package of technologies to support the effort to produce carbon-neutral sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). When used together, the technologies, which are based on Honeywell’s UOP Ecofining process technology and Wood’s hydrogen plant technology, could reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 100 percent using certain feedstocks, when compared to traditional petroleum aviation fuel.

The UOP Ecofining process technology converts waste oils, fats, and greases into Honeywell’s trademarked name for SAF, Green Jet Fuel, which can reduce GHG emissions by 80 percent compared to conventional jet fuel.

As the next step in enhancing the Ecofining process technology offering, Wood’s technology will be integrated to use the byproducts of the UOP Ecofining process technology to produce renewable hydrogen, further reducing lifecycle GHG emissions by 10 percent. The renewable hydrogen is then injected back into the Honeywell Ecofining process to remove feed impurities and create a cleaner burning renewable fuel, the companies said.

The CO2 generated from production of hydrogen can be captured and routed for permanent underground sequestration using the Honeywell H2 Solutions technology suite, further reducing lifecycle GHG emissions an additional 10 percent. The combination of technologies results in an aviation fuel that is effectively carbon neutral compared to petroleum fuels.

Ben Owens, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions, said, “As a result, a renewable fuels refinery can be essentially self-sustaining in hydrogen production while reducing the carbon intensity of the renewable fuels to very low levels.”

Andy Hemingway, president of energy, optimization, and innovation at Wood, said, “This solution utilizes our long-established experience in hydrogen plant technology to help fuel producers reduce operating costs while meeting sustainability goals with proven, reliable and efficient technologies.”

Recently, the U.S. federal government introduced the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge with a goal for industry to produce 3 billion gallons per year of SAF by 2030. According to Wood and Honeywell, if those 3 billion gallons of SAF were produced using their package of technologies, it could result in the equivalent of 34 million metric tons of cumulative carbon dioxide avoided per year, depending on the oil and fat feedstock mix used.