Climate-sustainable kerosene - we make it happen!
Synthetic Aviation Fuels for Sustainable Aviation
Aviation is one of the sectors in which achieving greenhouse gas neutrality is particularly challenging. The medium-term solution lies in so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). These fuels significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and are compatible with existing aircraft engines. SAF can be produced through various technological pathways and from different feedstocks. Careful selection of feedstocks is crucial in order to avoid undesirable side effects; otherwise, negative climate impacts may occur - for example, when biomass feedstocks are used whose cultivation directly or indirectly contributes to rainforest destruction. Solarbelt, by contrast, focuses on processes in which such undesirable side effects can be avoided from the outset.
We place a particular focus on Power-to-Liquid technologies, where the required energy is derived from renewable electricity and no biomass is used as a direct feedstock. Instead, the necessary carbon comes from CO₂ that is captured from existing industrial processes, such as fermentation, or even removed directly from the atmosphere using Direct Air Capture technologies. In addition, we are developing Biomass-to-Liquid and Biogas & Power-to-Liquid technologies - in these cases, however, we work exclusively with residues from food production.
Across all technology pathways, the first step involves the production of so-called synthesis gas (syngas). In the second step, the syngas is converted into a synthetic intermediate product. In the third step, this intermediate is transformed into sustainable aviation fuel as well as valuable co-products that can serve as feedstocks for the chemical industry.
Synthetic Fuels for Sustainable Shipping
Besides aviation, the maritime sector is also considered a “hard-to-abate” sector in which sustainable fuels are urgently needed to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as alternative propulsion technologies are not yet technically available. Unlike in aviation, where a standardized fuel type is used for all aircraft worldwide, large ships are powered by different types of engines that require different fuels depending on the vessel and engine type. For example, e-methanol - a key synthetic intermediate used in our
projects for the production of sustainable aviation fuel - can also be used directly in new marine propulsion systems. As a result, both sectors benefit from new projects aimed at producing sustainable fuels.
Opportunities for Developing Countries: E-Fuels from the Solarbelt
The production of sustainable fuels requires large amounts of renewable energy in the form of electricity or residual biomass, depending on the production pathway used. It therefore makes sense to produce these fuels in regions where such energy sources are abundantly available under favorable conditions. This is particularly true for the regions of the Solarbelt around the globe. The Solarbelt extends around the equator to approximately 40° north and south and is characterized not only by the
exceptionally high solar irradiation that gives it its name but also by significant untapped potential for residual biomass and unused land. For us, a key focus lies on the economic opportunities that the development of local production infrastructure for future-oriented fuels - along with the associated export potential - can create for developing countries in these regions. Learn more.
Our Standards
The atmosfair fairfuel Standard
Our Biomass Sustainability Criteria
Power-to-Liquid (PtL) e-kerosene and e-methanol used in aviation and maritime transport. Unlike the requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive RED II, this standard already incorporates a Book & Claim approach. This facilitates both the production of fuels in the Global South and the market integration and accounting of CO₂ reductions in the Global North - without allowing double counting of greenhouse gas savings. Read More.
In a study conducted jointly by atmosfair and the ifeu Institute, researchers examined which types of biomass can be used as feedstocks for green kerosene while meeting strict social and environmental standards, and how much of
this biomass is available in countries of the Global South. The selection criteria defined in the study serve as guiding principles for selecting biomass feedstocks or CO₂ sources in all of our projects. We do not compromise on environmental integrity!