Status: 04.10.2021 10:52 a.m.
Today the world’s first plant for the climate-neutral production of the aviation fuel kerosene opens in Emsland. Lufthansa is one of the first customers.
According to the operator Atmosfair, the world’s first plant for the production of CO2-neutral kerosene will open today in Werlte, Lower Saxony. For the first time it is possible to produce synthetic kerosene on an industrial scale, announced the environmental organization.
Once regular operations have been reached, production capacity should be one ton or eight barrels of raw kerosene per day in the coming year. The first customer is Lufthansa, with deliveries to Hamburg Airport.
The new plant produces kerosene synthetically with the help of water and electricity supplied by wind turbines from the surrounding area. In addition, waste CO2 from food leftovers from a biogas plant and CO2 from the ambient air are used. Atmosfair is planning regular operations from the first quarter of 2022. Atmosfair is a non-profit organization from Berlin that promotes and operates climate protection projects.
Export opportunities for plant construction
For the aviation industry, this new type of production could offer an opportunity for more climate protection. Atmosfair managing director Dietrich Brockhagen thinks that only that CO2 should end up in the atmosphere afterwards, which was taken from it beforehand.
Aircraft cannot do without liquid fuel and switch to electric drives. At the same time, however, aviation must also make its way towards climate neutrality. According to calculations by the German Aerospace Center, aviation accounts for 3.5 percent of man-made climate change. So the industry is looking for climate-neutral fuel.
For Germany and its partners, the technology offers economic opportunities, explains Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD): “Germany is a leader in plant engineering, other countries have a lot of wind and sun. If we now show that this technology works, it will also create new export opportunities for the Plant engineering, “says the minister.