Eurowings has formed a partnership with Greenlyte, a start-up company that is building a laboratory for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Düsseldorf Airport. The airline intends to be the exclusive purchaser of the first three years’ worth of SAF and act as a partner to the project, given that Düsseldorf is Eurowings’ largest European base.
The facility will use the “power-to-liquid” kerosene process to produce the SAF by extracting CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, producing green hydrogen in the same process, and converting both into synthetic fuel. It is expected to produce around 150 tonnes of SAF a year, which is enough for 60 flights between Düsseldorf and Palma at a 50 per cent blending ratio.
“The future of flying must be both more sustainable and affordable,” said Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof. “The SAF real-world laboratory at our largest site in Düsseldorf demonstrates in concrete terms how electricity-based SAF can be made technologically feasible. However, commercial viability is just as crucial. In order to get the market ramp-up underway, policymakers should develop measures that promote investment in PtL production facilities and, through this, help close the price gap between PtL-SAF and fossil kerosene.”
“Eurowings‘ declaration of intent to purchase SAF produced at our airport is an important and strong signal,” commented Lars Redeligx, CEO of Düsseldorf Airport. “The provision of sustainable fuels is of central importance for the sustainable transformation of our industry. In order for electricity-based SAF to be offered at a lower price in the future, production ramp-up must be strengthened and improvements in the manufacturing process achieved through innovative approaches. That is why we are very pleased to be working with Euref Campus and Eurowings to advance the project of the Essen-based start-up and thus move one step closer to the SAF real-world laboratory at our airport.”
“We are proud to have found two pioneering partners in North Rhine-Westphalia in Eurowings and the airport, who believe in the potential of our technology for climate-neutral flying,” added Florian Hildebrand, CEO and co-founder of Greenlyte. “With this project, we are taking the next big step: we want to show that eSAF can be produced cost-effectively and scalably – and that this is precisely how our technology will become a catalyst for transforming aviation. The project fits seamlessly into our project portfolio and underlines that defossilisation cannot be achieved through innovation alone, but through bold partnerships.”
News shared from news site/publication Regional Gateway
Photo: Eurowings
