All project’s objectives have been successfully achieved with a range of outcomes and
publications linked with each milestone. The project’s results provide insights to large-scale
jet fuel production via CO2 utilization. The novel technologies proposed in this project will be
contributing to the UK economy and meeting the UK aviation’s carbon reduction targets of net
zero by 2050. A CO2 Circular Aviation Jet Fuel Circular Economy, results in a CO2 – neutral
process and in particular for the aviation industry it will surely empower worldwide momentum
toward not only major economic development for countries but also achieving the UN’s
sustainable development goals. Findings of this project can contribute to development of a
workable framework that minimizes the barriers and unleash the UK potential to be the world
leader in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) market, while contributing to net-zero carbon targets.

WP1: Catalytic gasification of waste biomass to produce CO-rich syngas

The main aim of this WP1 is the catalytic gasification of waste biomass as a sustainable
production route to syngas, which can be upgraded through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) into jet fuels.
A feedstock and gasification ruleset was developed through fuzzy logic in order to determine
how the characteristics of the gasifier are affected by the feedstock, and in turn, it gives an
overall performance indicator compared with other feedstocks. In addition, new catalysts with
ultrafine active nanoparticles of Ni-Ce were developed to improve the overall efficiency of the
catalytic gasification by reducing their deactivation by coke deposition and minimizing the
production of byproducts such as tars during the reaction.

WP2: Production of H2-rich syngas-electrochemical reduction of CO2

In this WP2, a combination of experimental and modelling techniques were employed to
develop an optimized solid oxide co-electrolysis cell (SOEC) system in order to
electrochemically reduce CO2 and steam to produce H2 rich syngas for integrated jet fuel
production. Initially, a novel sol-gel method was devised to prepare SOEC electrode materials
with high surface area. Then several multi-stage (MS) exhaust energy recycling strategies were
proposed and their process models were developed for a kW class system. The process model
for integrated MS-AOGR&EGC (anode off gas recovery & exhaust gas combustion) showed
the best performance with an overall co-generation efficiency of 92%. The SOEC stack module
was procured and experimental facilities were setup to produce syngas. Finally, heat
management and transport intensification were investigated in the kW-class system. It was
simulated that hydrocarbon fuel produced by CO2 electrolysis in SOEC based process achieved
energy efficiency of about 41% which is two times higher than the energy efficiency of fuel
produced by conventional CO2 hydrogenation process. These results provide insights to large scale
jet fuel production via CO2 utilization.

WP3: FT processing of mixed syngas stream to produce jet fuel

We developed a CO2 Circular Aviation Jet Fuel Circular Economy, where the entire process is
a closed loop, importantly results in a CO2 – neutral process. This CO2 Circular Economy for
the aviation industry will surely empower worldwide momentum toward not only major
economic development for countries, but also achieving the UN’s sustainable development
goals.
WP3 focused on innovative catalysts preparation leading to high selectivity of jet fuel – range
hydrocarbons. The Organic Combustion Method (OCM) was applied to prepare iron-based
Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalysts, where more than 100 catalysts samples were prepared and
characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, TGA. The prepared iron-based catalyst (Fe-Mn-K)
showed high catalytic performance on FT synthesis. The addition of potassium in iron-based
catalysts improved the selectivity of liquid products and olefins; and also importantly decreased
the CO conversion and CH4 selectivity. The optimal potassium loading is molar ratio of Fe:K
of 100:2. The addition of manganese in iron-based catalysts improved the selectivity of liquid
products. The CO conversion can reach 95%, and the liquid products (C5+) selectivity of 55%
at the temperature of 280 oC using the catalyst of Fe-Mn-K (100:20:2). The stability of prepared
catalyst Fe-Mn-K (100:20:2) was >200 hours, with a CO conversion > 95%. The GC-MS

spectra of fuels showed that the prepared catalysts gave rise to a good selectivity on jet fuels –
range hydrocarbons. We also studied the fixation of CO2 by converting it directly into aviation
jet fuel using novel, inexpensive iron-based catalysts. The prepared Fe-Mn-K catalyst showed
a CO2 conversion through hydrogenation to hydrocarbons in the aviation jet fuel range of
38.2%, with a yield of 17.2%, selectivity of 47.8%, and with an attendant low CO (5.6%) and
methane selectivity (10.4%). The conversion reaction also produced light olefins ethylene,
propylene, and butenes, totalling a yield of 8.7%, which are important raw materials for the
petrochemical industry and are presently also obtained from fossil crude oil.

WP4: Process integration and sustainability

All task objectives for WP4 have been successfully completed with a range of outcomes and
publications linked with each milestone. It has been shown that bio-jet fuel produced from
wood pellets processed through FT using solid oxide co- electrolysis can have a lower
contribution to climate change than conventional jet fuel. This optimised base case showed a
116% reduction in LC-GHG emissions. Outputs of this WP4 showed that from a Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) perspective the main
sustainability part of this process is the use of the innovative solid oxide electrolyser cell
(SOEC) that removes -86 g/MJ of CO2 from circulation. When the jet fuel is then combusted
75 g/MJ of CO2 are emitted as with conventional jet fuel. This means that the process removes
-11 g/MJ of CO2 from the atmosphere and the process will act as a carbon sink, removing
potentially over 110% of CO2 from the atmosphere compared with conventional jet fuel. We
also demonstrated how our novel technologies will be contributing to the UK economy and
meeting the UK aviation’s carbon reduction targets of net zero by 2050.

WP5: Policy, public engagement and regulation

Despite sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) providing a viable option to decarbonise global
aviation, the SAF transition to the commercial level is stagnant. One of the main objectives of
WP5 is to investigate the key barriers and opportunities in upscaling the SAF commercial
development, deployment, and consumption perceived by industrial stakeholders along the
SAF supply chain. Furthermore, we designed stakeholders’ participatory based multi-criteria
decision-making (MCDM)-based methodological frameworks to assess various sustainable
aviation fuel (SAF) production pathways. We employed multiple approaches for data
collection, including presenting at aviation industry-led events, conducting semi-structured
interviews of industry stakeholders, expert surveys, a national-level public survey and holding

workshop consultations. Our stakeholder-informed analysis incorporates a wide range of
aspects that need to be addressed in unison to make the aviation sector either switch or increase
the uptake from using fossil jet to SAF. Broadly our analysis categories them into financial,
environmental, social, political/legal and technical dimensions. We also provided an in-depth
understanding of different SAF production technology advantages (e.g., higher GHG emissions
savings; social acceptability; lower investment costs) and drawbacks (e.g., low degree of
technology maturity; low production volumes; high degree of uncertainty) on comparison with
individual criteria and the entire criteria set. Our findings can potentially enable relevant
regulatory and policy bodies to develop a workable framework that minimizes the barriers and
unleash the UK potential to be the world leader in SAF market while contributing to net-zero
carbon targets.