Honeywell Introduces UOP eFining™ Technology for New Class of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

May 10, 2023

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(Honeywell UOP) Honeywell UOP eFining^TM can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 88% compared to conventional jet fuel¹; HIF Global to deploy Honeywell technology at its second U.S. eFuels facility with potential capacity to decarbonize over 12 billion air passenger miles per year²

Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) today announced its innovative, new, UOP eFining™ technology, a ready-now solution for producing low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). HIF Global, the world’s leading eFuels company, intends to deploy the new technology to produce eSAF at its second U.S. eFuels facility.

eFuels, also known as electrofuels, are a class of synthetic fuels that can replace conventionally produced fossil fuels. eFuels combine green hydrogen (i.e., hydrogen produced in electrolyzers from renewable energy and water) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) to produce eMethanol, which can then be converted to a wide range of sustainable fuels, including eSAF, eGasoline, and eDiesel.

Honeywell’s UOP eFining is a methanol to jet fuel (MTJ) processing technology that can convert eMethanol to eSAF reliably and at scale. The technology is efficient, resulting in high-yield eSAF production at a lower cost relative to comparable technologies. Honeywell UOP eFining can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 88% compared to conventional jet fuel[1]. When blended with conventional jet fuel, eSAF is a drop-in replacement fuel that requires no changes to aircraft technology or fuel infrastructure.

“As a leader in renewable fuel technology, Honeywell recognizes that creating technologies that use new feedstocks is vital to long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector,” said Lucian Boldea, president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “The ability to use readily abundant CO₂ to produce SAF is a transformational opportunity for this market. Adding UOP eFining^TM to our existing Ecofining and ethanol to jet technologies, Honeywell now offers multiple routes to market to meet the rapidly growing demand for renewable fuels including SAF.”

“United strongly supports the development of new technologies that can help bring additional quantities of SAF to market,” said United Airlines Ventures President Michael Leskinen. “Using green H₂and CO₂ to produce eSAF has the potential to dramatically increase the volume of SAF required to enable the aviation industry to reach its decarbonization goals in a timelier manner. United is proud to be the first airline to use SAF in regular operations and increasing our SAF consumption is essential to meeting our commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets.”

HIF Global is the first customer to sign a commercial agreement for the production of eSAF using Honeywell UOP eFining^TM. HIF expects to deploy the solution at its second commercial-scale eFuels facility in the U.S. The HIF eSAF project is expected to be the world’s largest eSAF facility, recycling approximately 2 million tons of captured CO₂ to make approximately 11,000 barrels per day of eSAF by 2030.

Renato Pereira, CEO of HIF USA added, “Honeywell and HIF Global together will transform recycled CO₂ into a useful feedstock to replace fossil fuels in the very hard to abate aviation sector. At HIF Global, we view Honeywell’s UOP eFining technology as the new frontier in sustainable aviation fuels and we look forward to deploying it to decarbonize over 12 billion air passenger miles per year².”

Demand for SAF continues to grow. In 2021, the Biden Administration announced its Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge for the U.S. aviation fuel supply sector to produce at least three billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030 and reduce emissions from aviation by 20%, with an eventual goal of meeting 100% of U.S. aviation fuel demand with SAF by 2050. The European Council released its ReFuelEU Aviation rules as part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, which aim to increase the share of sustainable fuels at EU airports from a minimum of 2% in 2025 to 70% by 2050, with an additional subtarget for eSAF of 1.2% by 2030 and 35% in 2050. These and other incentives, including the Inflation Reduction Act, are intended to accelerate commercialization of technologies like Honeywell UOP eFining to help meet the growing demand for SAF.

Honeywell’s UOP eFining^TM technology offers a highly integrated design that can process flexible feedstocks using commercially proven processes, resulting in operational reliability, minimized capital expenditures, and low energy intensity. Honeywell’s eFining^TM is the latest technology in a line of offerings that are driving the decarbonization of the aviation sector. The company offers multiple routes to market using a variety of feedstocks, including Ecofining^TM technology which uses fats, oils and greases and the recently launched ethanol to jet technology.

Honeywell is committed to achieving carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. This commitment builds on the company's track record of sharply reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. About 60% of Honeywell's new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.

About Honeywell

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) delivers industry-specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

About HIF Global

HIF Global is the world’s leading eFuels company, developing projects to convert hydrogen using low-cost renewable power into carbon neutral liquid eFuels that can be transported and utilized in existing infrastructure. The name HIF represents the mission of the company: to provide Highly Innovative Fuels to make decarbonization of the planet possible. HIF Global started producing the first liters of synthetic Fuels from the Haru Oni Demonstration Facility in Magallanes, Chile in December 2022 and intends to begin construction of the first commercial scale HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility in Texas in 2024. For more information, visit www.hifglobal.com.

¹Reduced GHG emissions is based on UOP carbon intensity analysis, derived from a 3rd-party study of methanol production from green hydrogen and CO₂ captured from biomass processing, in comparison to fossil fuels.

²Air passenger miles based on a Boeing 777-300ER airplane with all seats occupied, flying routes of 3,000 miles. READ MORE

The Way Point: Honeywell UOP’s new methanol-to-jet tech might win it all (Biofuels Digest)

Honeywell announces tech to turn hydrogen and CO2 into lower-carbon aviation fuel (Reuters)

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: It may be that over the next few decades the most important feedstock for SAF will not be ethanol, or plant oils, but methanol. So it was big news last year when ExxonMobil announced a methanol-to-SAF technology, and even bigger news just now as Honeywell UOP announces a rival technology and a big customer with a tasty deployment timeline. Specifically, eFuels leader HIF Global intends to deploy the new technology to produce eSAF at its second U.S. eFuels facility.

The HIF eSAF project is expected to be the world’s largest eSAF facility, recycling approximately 2 million tons of captured CO₂ to make approximately 11,000 barrels per day of eSAF by 2030, or just shy of 170 million gallons per year.

The boldest claim? An 88 percent reduction in GHGs, that’s based on CO2 ‘captured from biomass processing’ and green hydrogen.

Why methanol?

For observers in Digestville and elsewhere, if the question is “why methanol?” the answer is “The many effective ways to make it. Most well-known and long-proven. The many applications.” SAF is a new one, and we think the biggest of all.

How many ways to make methanol? One pathway is methanol synthesis, start with carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and with the reverse water gas shift reaction you can make carbon monoxide and water, then hydrogenate the carbon monoxide to methanol.

A second pathway is direct conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen to methanol — and CRI has been operating a plant in Iceland since 2012 with a 4000 ton per year (123 million gallons) plant since 2012.

There’s methanol made from methane. And those 38 percent methanol yields from destructive distillation of wood come to mind. There’s Enerkem’s MSW-to-methanol. What about methanol from gasified corn stalks?

The CO2 to methanol route is getting the most attention right now, of course. As the DOE’s Jay Fitzgerald put it, using the carbon we have to make the carbon we need. But look beyond the competitive edge of any single pathway. Look at the number of them. Out of diversity comes certainty.

...

Green SAF made from CO2 is unlikely to be cheaper than fossil fuels, on an energy basis, but it’s all about the carbon intensity, now. The carbon credits, based on the kind of 88 percent reductions UOP refers to, will be large, and welcomed. And green methanol SAF is likely to be worth far than, say, green SAF made from corn ethanol, because the carbon intensity will be lower and the carbon value higher.

We might add, there’ll be excitement from environmentalists who see the potential to use waste CO2 as a feedstock and achieve low carbon intensity. From utilities and their partners intent on producing green hydrogen via water-splitting. Airlines who see the potential for more affordable fuels, and larger scales. And corn ethanol producers and their carbon-capture partners might raise a cheer, too, because corn ethanol plants and CO2 pipelines are an ideal place to pick up a large and pure stream of CO2. We do not have word where HIF, or others, will site methanol-to-jet facilities — we’d point right at locations close to abundant wind energy, water, ethanol production and a decent sized airport. That’s Big Ten country, and Iowa is going to be in the mix. With a slightly more challenging CO2 stream, think Gulf Coast.

So, exciting times.