Two major airlines have announced plans to help offset their flight emissions with carbon removal credits from a new Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility being developed in the US. Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) was the first airline to sign a direct purchase agreement with Houston-based 1PointFive, while European low-cost carrier easyJet will acquire credits supplied by the same company, but sourced through the Airbus Carbon Capture Offer. Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) uses large fans to filter and remove CO2 directly from the air, after which it is permanently stored in underground reservoirs. The 1PointFive facility, under construction in the Permian Basin oilfield in south-west Texas, will use carbon capture and storage technology developed by Canadian company Carbon Engineering, in which Airbus invested last year. ANA will acquire its carbon removal credits over three years, starting in 2025, while easyJet will do so between 2026 and 2029.

ANA will acquire a total of 30,000 metric tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) credits, or 10,000 tonnes in each of three years, with the captured CO2 to be sequestered in saline reservoirs that are not used for oil or gas production.

“Reaching our goal of carbon neutrality is one of the key priorities for ANA, and we are actively diversifying our methods to pursue sustainability,” said the airline’s President and CEO, Shinichi Inoue. “As we continue to review and invest in sustainable and innovative technologies and processes that help further our mission, we look forward to seeing the positive impact that partnering with 1PointFive brings to our airline.”

Michael Avery, President of 1PointFive, welcomed the partnership with ANA, Japan’s largest airline group, as part of its broader decarbonisation strategy. “Direct Air Capture is a vital and scalable carbon removal technology that is necessary to help society achieve net zero,” he said. “The aviation industry can uniquely benefit from DAC as a pathway to removing carbon emissions securely, practically and on a large scale.”

United Airlines was an early entrant into DAC when it announced an investment in 1PointFive nearly three years ago.

Low-cost giant easyJet has become the first airline to sign up to the Airbus Carbon Capture Offer, through which the airframer offers verified carbon removal credits to help offset flight emissions.

Airbus invested in Carbon Engineering late last year, and over a four-year period will acquire 400,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits from 1PointFive, which is Carbon Engineering’s licensed US partner.

“Decarbonising a hard-to-abate sector such as aviation is a huge challenge,” said Thomas Haagensen, Group Markets Director at easyJet, which operates more than 300 Airbus A320-family jets on almost 1,000 routes in Europe. “We believe carbon removal will play an important role in addressing our residual emissions in the future, complementing other components to help us achieve our pathway to net zero.

“Our ultimate aim is to achieve zero carbon emission flying and as well as investing into important projects like direct air carbon capture technology, we are working with multiple partners, including Airbus, to accelerate the development of zero carbon emission aircraft technology.” 

The easyJet commitment follows an agreement last year in which it joined Air Canada, Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group and Virgin Atlantic to engage in negotiations on the possible pre-purchase of verified carbon removal credits, to be issued from 2025 by 1PointFive.

Supported by investors including Airbus and Air Canada, Carbon Engineering developed direct air capture technology at its research plant in Squamish, Canada. It is now targeting large-scale deployment, with 1PointFive using the technology to develop direct air capture infrastructure at megaton capacity, initially in the Permian Basin, and with plans for more sites.

“The Direct Air Capture facility, targeted to become operational in 2024 in the Permian Basin, is expected to capture up to 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year,” explained the companies. “This is roughly equivalent to the work, or absorption capacity, of approximately 40 million trees.”

Julie Kitcher, Airbus EVP Communications, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs, welcomed the deal with easyJet, which she described as “a strong advocate of decarbonisation.”

“This agreement demonstrates the airline’s willingness to extend its environmental commitment through Airbus’ Carbon Capture Offer,” she said. “Initiatives such as this one underline Airbus’ commitment to decarbonisation solutions for our industry, and to bringing together airlines and industry players from all sectors in order to build a sustainable aviation ecosystem.”

As part of its strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, easyJet is focused on a mix of new technologies and operational efficiencies, and beyond Airbus has formed partnerships with Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions. As an interim target, the airline is also pursuing a 35% reduction in emissions intensity by 2035, compared to 2019.

Top photo: Thomas Haagensen of easyJet and Wouter Van Wersch of Airbus at DACCS contract signing

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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Airbus and Air Canada are to invest in Canadian direct air carbon capture (DACC) company Carbon Engineering to help fund R&D technologies at its Innovation Centre in British Columbia. DACC technology involves capturing CO2 emissions directly from the air using high-powered fans. Once removed from the air, the CO2 can be used to produce power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel or can be permanently stored in geologic reservoirs. The investment follows a move announced in July by Airbus and seven airline groups, including Air Canada, to explore opportunities for a future supply of carbon removal credits from DACC technology and negotiate the pre-purchase of credits issued by 1PointFive, the global deployment partner of Carbon Engineering. Meanwhile, the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably certify high-quality carbon removals. While GHG emissions reduction is the first and most urgent priority, the Commission says carbon removals will be needed to compensate for residual emissions that cannot be eliminated in hard-to-abate sectors.

This is particularly the case for aviation with its net zero emissions by 2050 goal as under any future scenario the industry cannot capture all CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere at source. The investment in Carbon Engineering (CE) is a key part of its global climate strategy, said Airbus, to encourage the development and deployment of DACC technology among a number of technological pathways.

“We are proud to be investing in Carbon Engineering, reaffirming our commitment to the use of direct air capture as a two-fold solution for the decarbonisation of the aviation industry,” said Karine Guenan, VP ZEROe Ecosystem, Airbus.

Added Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau: “We remain focused on seeking innovative, long-term, sustainable GHG emissions reduction solutions for aviation, and carbon capture is one we have outlined in our strategy to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Last year, we became the first Canadian airline to sign an MoU with CE to explore carbon capture scalability and other initiatives for our industry.”

CE was founded in Calgary, Canada, in 2009 and following years of prototyping and technology research and development, moved in 2015 to Squamish, BC, to build an operational pilot plant that produced a first batch of synthetic fuel in 2017. In partnership with 1PointFive, a development company formed by Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a first commercial large-scale DACC facility, located in the US Permian Basin, is expected to capture one million tons of CO2 from the air annually when completed, which will be stored deep underground in geological formations. In the UK, in partnership with Storegga, engineering has begun on a DACC facility that is being designed to permanently remove between 500,000 and one million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually.

In March this year, 1PointFive sold 400,000 tonnes of carbon removals credits from the planned US DACC facility to Airbus. Under the agreement, Airbus pre-purchased the capture and permanent sequestration of 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year for four years, with an option to secure more volume in the future.

In July, Airbus, Air Canada, Air France-KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group and Virgin Atlantic signed Letters of Intent “to explore opportunities” for a future supply of carbon removal credits from DACC technology. As part of the agreements, the airlines committed “to engage in negotiations on the possible pre-purchase of verified and durable carbon removal credits starting in 2025 through to 2028.” The credits will be issued by 1PointFive.

“We are already seeing strong interest from airlines to explore affordable and scalable carbon removals,” said Julie Kitcher, EVP Communications and Corporate Affairs, Airbus.

As well as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), other industrial technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) can capture carbon and store it permanently. In agriculture and forestry, carbon farming practices can sustainably enhance the storage of carbon in soils and forests or reduce the release of carbon from soils.

The proposal by the European Commission for an EU-wide voluntary certification framework for carbon removals is intended to boost innovative carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming solutions, and contribute to the EU’s climate neutrality by 2050 goal.

“The proposed regulation will significantly improve the EU’s capacity to quantify, monitor and verify carbon removals,” it said. “Higher transparency will ensure trust from stakeholders and industry, and prevent greenwashing. Carbon removals can and must bring clear benefits for the climate, and the Commission will prioritise those carbon removal activities that will provide significant benefits for biodiversity. Moving forward, the Commission, supported by experts, will develop tailored certification methods for carbon removal activities delivering on climate and other environmental objectives.”

The proposal sets out rules for the independent verification of carbon removals, as well as rules to recognise certification schemes that can be used to demonstrate compliance with the EU framework. The proposed regulation establishes four ‘QU.A.L.ITY’ criteria:

• Quantification – Carbon removal activities need to be measured accurately and deliver unambiguous benefits for the climate;
• Additionality – Carbon removal activities need to go beyond existing practices and what is required by law;
• Long-term storage – Certificates are linked to the duration of carbon storage so as to ensure permanent storage; and
• Sustainability – Carbon removal activities must preserve or contribute to sustainability objectives such as climate change adaptation, circular economy, water and marine resources, and biodiversity.

The Commission says carbon removal certificates can be used by private or public sources, including markets such as the CORSIA offsetting scheme for international aviation carbon emissions.

The proposal will now be discussed by the European Parliament and Council, in line with ordinary legislative procedure. The first meeting of the expert group – intended to consist of 70 members from academia, industry, civil society, competent authorities, public entities and carbon removal specialists – is planned for the first quarter of 2023.

Photo: The Carbon Engineering Innovation Centre in Squamish, British Columbia

Two sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects in the UK have been announced that involve British Airways, one to investigate a commercial facility that would produce more than 100 million litres per year of jet fuel made from atmospheric CO2 and the other to recycle carbon from UK wood waste and turn it into SAF. Partners on the projects include US company LanzaTech and its offshoot LanzaJet. Project AtmosFUEL is a collaboration of Canadian direct air capture (DAC) technology company Carbon Engineering, LanzaTech UK, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, and is targeting a proposed facility to be operational by the end of the decade. Also with a goal of producing 100 million litres of SAF a year, Project Speedbird brings together Nova Pangaea Technologies, LanzaJet and British Airways. Both projects were recently shortlisted by the UK government to receive funding from the ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition.

Project AtmosFUEL will examine how Carbon Engineering (CE) and LanzaTech technologies can be integrated to recycle atmospheric CO2 into ultra-low carbon jet fuel. CE’s DAC technology will capture CO2 from the atmosphere so it can be fed into LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process to produce low-carbon ethanol. The ethanol will then be converted into SAF using LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet (AtJ) technology that was developed by LanzaTech and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the United States. The fuel, which is claimed to offer more than a 90% reduction in GHG emissions compared to conventional fossil jet fuel, will undergo certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials.

“Using DAC to make SAF presents an opportunity for unprecedented scale, a key factor when the greatest challenge we face as an industry is getting the volumes of fuel we need into planes as soon as possible,” said LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. “We applaud the UK government’s continued leadership role in creating opportunities for bringing recycled carbon into the supply chain to enable achieving Net Zero.”

LanzaTech says its first commercial gas fermentation plant has produced over 20 million gallons of ethanol and has been working with the UK government and several industrial partners on Project DRAGON to build the world’s first commercial-scale, waste ethanol-based AtJ production facility in South Wales (see article). The fuel will be used by UK-based airlines, including British Airways and long-time partner Virgin Atlantic. The feedstock for the facility will be procured from a variety of waste sources and the facility will have the ability to also use ethanol produced from local steel mill waste gases.

From a pilot plant in British Columbia, CE has been capturing atmospheric CO2 since 2015 and converting it into fuels since 2017. In partnership with 1PointFive, which has financial backing from United Airlines (see article), CE is engineering a large-scale, commercial DAC facility in the US that will capture one million tonnes of CO2 per year.

With UK partner Storegga, CE has begun engineering and design of a proposed facility in north-east Scotland to permanently remove between 500,000 and one million tonnes of CO2 per year. It would be the first large-scale facility of its kind in Europe and the partners are aiming for it to be operational by 2026.

“These types of first-of-a-kind facilities will position the UK as a world leader in advanced low carbon jet fuel breakthroughs and will deliver significant emission reductions and rippling economic benefits,” said CE’s VP Europe, Amy Ruddock.

Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer, Juha Jarvinen, commented: “The involvement of two leading UK airlines as partners in this project reflects how important it is to support such innovation and the role airlines play in developing a UK-based SAF production capability. We very much look forward to working with our partners over the coming months.”

Added British Airways CEO Sean Doyle: “We look forward to pushing forward with this project, which is one of many we’re working on as we head towards our target to decarbonise and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

The airline is involved in four of the eight projects that have been shortlisted to receive grant funding under the Department for Transport’s ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition (see article).

“These plants would be a game-changer for our industry, not only delivering sustainable aviation fuel but also creating many hundreds of highly skilled jobs while increasing economic growth around the UK,” said Doyle.

Shortlisted Project Speedbird, involving LanzaJet, British Airways and Nova Pangaea Technologies, which is based in Redcar, northeast England, aims to develop the UK’s first SAF production facility to utilise UK-sourced wood waste. According to the Wood Recyclers Association, the amount of waste wood processed in the UK increased by 6% to 3.98 million tonnes in 2019.

The integrated technology platform is based on Nova Pangaea’s REFNOVA patented process of converting lignocellulosic feedstocks, such as waste wood and non-food biomass, into sustainable biofuels and chemicals. LanzaJet’s technology would then convert the ethanol to synthetic paraffinic kerosene and synthetic paraffinic diesel to produce SAF and renewable diesel.

“We plan to deliver the first UK-based end-to-end sustainable value chain from UK wood waste and residues to SAF,” said Sarah Ellerby of Nova Pangaea, who was appointed CEO in January 2020 following 15 years of experience as CEO of three US companies within the energy sector.

Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of project partner LanzaJet, said: “The conversion of wood waste to SAF in the UK helps decarbonise aviation and recycles carbon from local UK wood waste. At LanzaJet, we’re in a unique position with ready and scaling technology to produce lower carbon, sustainable fuels. Our partnership with British Airways and Nova Pangaea provides a novel and important integrated solution for the UK.”

Photo: Heathrow Airport

Eight proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects have been shortlisted by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) to share up to £15 million ($20m) in grant funding to support early-stage development of large-scale SAF production plants in the UK. All selected projects have the potential to reduce emissions by more than 70% on a lifecycle basis when used in place of conventional fossil jet fuel, said the DfT. The plants plan to produce jet fuel from a variety of sources including sewage; household and commercial waste; alcohol derived from wastes; and from captured atmospheric carbon dioxide. Organisations standing to gain from the funding include Velocys, Fulcrum BioEnergy, LanzaTech, Lanzajet, Advanced Biofuel Solutions, Alfanar Energy, Green Fuels Research, Nova Pangaea and Carbon Engineering, with a few of the projects shortlisted still at their feasibility stage.

Research carried out for the DfT indicates that by 2040 the SAF sector could generate between £0.7 billion and £1.66 billion a year for the UK economy, with potentially half of this coming from the export of intellectual property and the provision of engineering services. Between 5,000 and 11,000 green jobs could also be created across the nation and SAF production could also increase UK fuel security.

The eight projects shortlisted in the Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) competition are:

• Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd – ABSL will work with a British refinery and engineering company to produce a detailed engineering design for a new facility in Cheshire, north-west England. The plant will use gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology to convert 130,000 tonnes of waste a year into aviation fuel.
• Alfanar Energy Ltd – The company’s Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) project, located in Tees Valley, north-east England, will use gasification and FT technology to convert household and commercial waste into around 180 million litres of SAF and naphtha. The project is currently completing design optimisation work ahead of starting the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage by the end of 2021.
• Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd – The Fulcrum NorthPoint project, being developed at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex in north-west England, will convert residual waste into around 100 million litres of SAF using gasification and FT technology. Funding will support the FEED stage of project work.
• Green Fuels Research Ltd – A joint endeavour between Green Fuels, Petrofac and Cranfield University, the FIREFLY project aims to demonstrate and certify a technology route to SAF from sewage sludge. Funding will support the project’s pre-FEED development stage.
• LanzaTech UK Ltd – Funding will support the FEED stage of a proposed facility in Port Talbot, South Wales, which is expected to produce over 100 million litres of SAF per year, using ethanol from biogenic wastes and industry flue gases.
• LanzaTech UK Ltd and Carbon Engineering – Funding will support a feasibility study into producing 100 million litres of SAF per year using Carbon Engineering’s direct air capture (DAC) technology, and hydrogen from water electrolysis to convert into SAF using Lanzatech’s gas fermentation and LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet technology. Project members include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
• Nova Pangaea Technologies (UK) Ltd – Along with British Airways and LanzaJet, the feasibility project will study the optimal design to construct a facility that produces more than 100 million litres of SAF a year using UK woody residues.
• Velcocys Projects Ltd – The funding will support progress towards FEED of the Altalto project being developed by Velocys and British Airways to build a commercial waste-to-SAF plant in Immingham, north-east England, using gasification and FT technology.

The eight projects are understood to be assured of funding with the amounts to each to be announced very shortly and subject to contract. The bulk of the funding will go to those projects in the pre-FEED or FEED phase with around £2 million expected to be awarded to those in their feasibility stage. The GFGS funding period is a fixed term from August to the end of March 2022.

Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways, which is involved in four of the projects, commented: “We’re determined to transform the sustainability of our industry and this potential GFGS government funding is critical in helping us to show the feasibility of building SAF plants. These plants would be a game-changer for our industry, not only delivering SAF but also creating many hundreds of highly skilled jobs while increasing economic growth around the UK.”

Henrik Wareborn, CEO of Velocys, which benefited from funding under the government’s £20 million F4C competition held in 2017, said: “We welcome this new funding as it will help bring Altalto closer to the production of SAF. The GFGS initiative highlights the importance of building SAF facilities throughout the country that will help the UK not only to meet the targets set but also make a quantifiable impact on climate change.”

Added Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of US-based LanzaJet, which is partnering on one of the shortlisted projects with British Airways and Nova Pangaea, said: “Together, we are grateful to the Prime Minister and DfT for their support in advancing the production of SAF in the UK.”

The Green Fuels Research (GFR) project with Petrofac and Cranfield University will demonstrate an integrated route to SAF using sewage sludge as feedstock and encompasses engineering design and construction of a UK demonstration plant capable of generating the quantities of fuel to allow certification to international standards. This in turn, says GFR, will lead to a first-of-a-kind commercial refinery and roll-out to several locations where airports, pipeline terminals and wastewater treatment works are in close proximity. The company says around 53 million tonnes per annum of untreated sewage sludge are collected in the UK from about 8,500 wastewater treatment works.

Commenting on the competition announcement, Green Fuels CEO James Hygate said: “We’re delighted to have this opportunity to prove the environmental and commercial viability of the FIREFLY route, which integrates several existing technologies into a sustainable industrial process. Among many advantages, FIREFLY will use fully biogenic feedstock which will emit no fossil carbon, won’t contribute to deforestation or compete with food production, and will not rely on imports with long, high-emission supply chains. And perhaps most importantly, we expect to demonstrate exceptional carbon savings, meaning this is potentially a very fast route to decarbonising aviation that won’t rely on as yet unknown technologies.”

The competition has been managed by consultants Ricardo and once the funding has been distributed, it will monitor the eight projects on behalf of the DfT.

“We have been amazed by the diversity and creativity of the entries,” said Alexandra Humphris-Bach, Ricardo Principal Consultant. “All the selected projects have a clear potential to produce SAF capable of reducing emissions by more than 70% on a lifecycle basis, when used in place of a conventional fossil jet fuel.”

The UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “Aviation will be central to our future growth and plans to build back greener from the pandemic, which is why we have invested over £20 million in the past year to decarbonise the sector in line with our world-leading net zero targets.

“With less than 100 days to go until COP26, we’re ramping up our efforts even further to help companies break ground on trailblazing waste to jet fuel plants and put the UK at the forefront of international SAF production.”

Photo: British Airways is involved in four of the eight shortlisted projects

Although using CO2 from direct air capture (DAC) is important for e-fuels production in a net zero energy system, it is currently too expensive and could place a very high cost and technology risk burden on the e-fuels sector, concludes an E4Tech study commissioned by Transport & Environment (T&E) and presented in a webinar hosted by the Brussels-based NGO. The study recommends point source CO2 capture – capturing CO2 from industrial sources such as fossil or biomass power plants or cement production – be used in the near term for e-fuel production based on rigorous GHG assessment, while policies are put in place to support the commercialisation of DAC, reports Susan van Dyk. E-fuels are produced from CO2 and hydrogen, and the CO2 can be derived from direct air capture or industrial point sources. T&E estimates demand for e-kerosene (the subcategory of e-fuels suitable for aviation) for flights originating in Europe could grow to nearly 40 Mt in 2050 and completely replace fossil kerosene. It believes sourcing CO2 through DAC is “better than capturing it from industrial sources; a technique which, while cheaper, has the unintended effect of encouraging industries to continue to rely on fossil fuels.”

CO2 from industrial point sources can result in an overall reduction in emissions for the final e-fuel, but when derived through DAC it can potentially deliver carbon neutral e-fuels. Keith Whiriskey, Deputy Director at the Bellona Foundation, provided a perspective on CO2 accounting in DAC at the webinar, emphasising the climate benefits of e-fuels rely on both the source of CO2 and the source of hydrogen. From a carbon perspective, Whiriskey says DAC for e-fuel production is climate neutral. In contrast, CO2 from a point source for e-fuel production, where the CO2 originates from a fossil source, releases that CO2 back into the atmosphere when the e-fuel is combusted. While there is a reduction in CO2 emissions overall, only one of the parties can claim the reduction. From a carbon accounting perspective, the CO2 provider can claim an emission reduction based on carbon capture, but the e-fuel producer cannot simultaneously claim an emission reduction as this will amount to double counting. As Whiriskey explains, “one party can be low carbon – the other party must be full carbon.”

The source of hydrogen is equally important, he says. Unless hydrogen is derived from 100% renewable electricity, emissions from e-fuel production can increase. Whereas hydrogen from wind electricity produces around 0.5 tCO2/tH2, hydrogen from coal-derived electricity produces approximately 35 tCO2/tH2. Besides sourcing the hydrogen from renewable electricity, e-fuel production must be based on new or additional renewable electricity. Whiriskey points out that e-fuel production is an inefficient use of electricity and only offers low emission reductions per unit of renewable electricity used. As a climate measure, the use of renewable electricity for electric vehicles offers six times greater emission reductions, he says.

DAC compared to point source capture of CO2 is therefore not the only factor in determining the climate benefits of e-fuels. DAC can offer much greater climate benefits than point source CO2, and T&E therefore argues it should be considered the preferred source of CO2. However, compared with point source capture of CO2, DAC comes at a higher cost and has greater energy requirements. DAC is also at an early stage of development, explains Jo Howes, Principal Consultant at E4Tech, which was recently acquired by global sustainability advisory firm ERM. The study commissioned by T&E assessed whether, when and how DAC could be scaled up to meet the demands of an e-kerosene industry at the scale needed to decarbonise European aviation.

It determined the current costs of DAC are reported at €100-500/tCO2 ($120-600/tCO2) compared to point source CO2 capture costs of €70-150/tCO2. All DAC companies project much lower costs in the long term, ranging from €40-170/tCO2, but “only some of these are backed up by published data,” Howes told the webinar. At €503/tCO2, e-kerosene is calculated to be €4019/t compared to a current average jet fuel price of around €550/t. While reducing the cost of CO2 to €100/tCO2 can potentially reduce the cost of e-kerosene to €2405/t, this is still more than four times the current price of jet fuel.

Howes believes that requiring DAC for e-fuels would place a very high cost and technology risk burden on the emerging e-fuels sector and recommends point source CO2 should be allowed in the near term but with rigorous project-level GHG assessment. The study identifies the conditions to enable commercialisation of DAC as additional supply-side policy support, such as funding for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) and project investment, along with future mandates for DAC use within fuels policy or as part of broader GHG removal policy.

There are no fundamental limits on scaling up of DAC for future e-fuel production, said Howes. Many companies are currently pursuing DAC commercialisation, and large-scale projects are being developed, with the first 1 Mt/year facilities expected by 2023/2024. The speed of roll-out will depend on the existence of viable markets for CO2 capture, which is not limited to e-fuels production and includes the use of CO2 in industry and carbon capture and storage.

To produce T&E’s estimated annual 40 Mt of European e-kerosene by 2050, it would require 365 Mt/year of CO2 to be captured, finds the study. Canada-based DAC pioneer Carbon Engineering, in partnership with 1PointFive, is expecting to begin construction on a first commercial-scale plant in the United States that will capture up to 1 Mt/year of CO2 that will be stored permanently underground. The company is also piloting its ‘Air to fuels’ technology that is producing around 1 barrel of fuel per day. Swiss DAC company Climeworks, which has 14 plants currently either commissioned or in operation across Europe, is constructing its geothermal-powered Orca direct air capture and CO2 underground storage plant in Iceland. It will capture 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, which the company says will make it the world’s biggest climate-positive facility to date. By 2024, Climeworks expects to increase production across its facilities to 40,000 tCO2/year and then to 400,000 tCO2/year globally by 2027.

Based on the conclusions from the report, T&E has made some key recommendations of its own to policymakers. For the upcoming ReFuelEU Aviation initiative about to be announced, T&E recommends that DAC CO2 be required from the start of e-kerosene production, with any project receiving public support requiring a minimum share of 30% DAC, increasing over time to 100%. T&E believes the ReFuelEU legislative proposal should include an e-kerosene sub-target of 1% by 2030. T&E further recommends continued support for DAC RD&D through European and member state funding programmes, such as Horizon Europe, including support for basic and applied research, as well as pilot and demonstration funding.

According to T&E, and in agreement with the E4Tech study, policy support is crucial to “truly tap DAC’s full potential as one of the leading contributors to tomorrow’s clean aviation.” Without such policies, T&E believes DAC companies cannot solve the scalability and cost aspects of the equation. What is absent from the T&E recommendations is direct support for point source capture as proposed by the E4Tech report.

While e-fuels produced using DAC CO2 can undoubtedly deliver significant climate benefits, the high cost of DAC e-fuels is arguably the biggest obstacle to its development. Aggressive policies to support DAC, as outlined by T&E, could support the scale-up of DAC technology and realise the necessary future cost reductions to deliver sustainable fuels for aviation at a competitive price. However, e-kerosene will still need to compete with SAF produced through other technology pathways. Aviation is also a global sector, and European airlines may be reluctant to support policies that will place them at a competitive disadvantage. Several SAF producers using other technologies, have also demonstrated they can produce carbon neutral fuels to deliver similar climate benefits to e-fuels from DAC (see article).

Photo: When operational, Climework’s Orca DAC facility in Iceland will capture 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per year

Susan van Dyk

GreenAir Correspondent

www.svdconsulting.ca

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United Airlines has ramped up its 2018 pledge to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 by announcing a new ambitious commitment to a 100 per cent reduction by the same year. In an industry first, the US airline says it will meet its carbon neutrality goal through a multimillion-dollar investment in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology rather than purchasing carbon credits to offset residual emissions. The investment is being made in 1PointFive, a partnership between Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental, and Rusheen Capital Management, which is using technology licensed from Carbon Engineering in the first industrial-sized DAC plant in the United States. United has already invested $30 million in sustainable aviation fuel producer Fulcrum BioEnergy, the single largest investment in SAF production by any airline globally.

“As the leader of one of the world’s largest airlines, I recognise our responsibility in contributing to fight climate change, as well as our responsibility to solve it,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. “These game-changing technologies will significantly reduce our emissions and measurably reduce the speed of climate change – because buying carbon offsets alone is not enough. Perhaps most importantly, we’re not just doing it to meet our own sustainability goal, we’re doing it to drive the positive change our industry requires so that every airline can eventually join us and do the same.”

DAC technology, says the airline, is one of the few proven ways to physically correct for aircraft emissions and can scale to capture millions, and potentially billions, of tonnes of CO2 per year. The first 1PointFive plant is expected to capture and permanently sequester one million tonnes of CO2 each year (currently, the world’s largest DAC facilities have the capacity to capture several thousand tonnes of CO2 per year), the equivalent work of 40 million trees, claims the company, yet covering a land area around 3,000 times smaller.

The captured CO2 will then be stored deep underground in geological formations by Occidental and the process certified by independent third parties. Occidental has been permanently storing CO2 for more than 40 years, with nearly 20 million tonnes sequestered in its operations annually. The company has two US EPA-approved monitoring, reporting and verification plans to validate the integrity, transparency and permanence of the entire sequestration process. Its contribution to the venture includes engineering, project development and other technology performance assistance that will provide support for the development and financing of the DAC plant.

The exact location for the plant has not yet been revealed except that it is in the Texas Permian Basin, with a land footprint of around 100 acres (40 hectares). 1PointFive announced in August that the plant was in the design and development phase with the final front-end engineering design slated to begin in the first quarter of 2021 and construction expected to start in 2022. The company says the venture with Carbon Engineering has been enabled by market policies such as the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Federal 45Q tax credit.

“Assessments by major organisations such as the IPCC and the National Academy of Sciences are increasingly clear that to avoid the dangerous impacts of climate change, we will need to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere,” said 1PointFive CEO Jim McDermott. “A global DAC industry will be key to achieving this. It will also bring significant economic benefits, leading to the development of new industries and thousands of jobs.”

United believes sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with up to 80% less lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional fuel, remains the fastest and most effective way to reduce its emissions. It holds more than 50% of all publicly announced future SAF purchase commitments among airlines globally. Last year, United renewed its contract with World Energy, agreeing to purchase up to 10 million gallons of “cost-competitive” SAF.

The airline has longest history of using SAF in the US and has been powering every flight departing its Los Angeles hub since 2016, carrying 26 million passengers on 215,000 flights powered by a SAF blend. In 2019 it committed $40 million towards an investment initiative focused on accelerating the development of SAF and other decarbonisation technologies. Earlier this month, the Carbon Disclosure Project named United as the only airline globally to its 2020 ‘A List’ for the airline’s actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and help develop the low-carbon economy, marking the seventh consecutive year that United had the highest CDP score among US carriers.

“When I became United Airlines’ new CEO at the beginning of the pandemic, I did so with a grand vision for our company: to make sustainability the new standard in flight,” said Kirby in an open letter on LinkedIn. “I realise it’s an ambitious vision for someone in an industry that depends on burning fossil fuels to operate. As the leader of one of the world’s largest airlines, I recognise our responsibility in contributing to climate change as well as our responsibility to solve it. It’s no longer enough for us to connect the world without making sure it has a future.”

Kirby said traditional carbon offsets did almost nothing to tackle the emissions from flying. “And, more importantly, they simply don’t meet the scale of this global challenge,” he added. “Carbon emissions have increased 4,000 times since the industrial revolution. It’s just not realistic to think we can plant enough trees to start bending that curve today.

“We’re embracing a new goal to be 100% green by 2050 by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions 100%. And we’ll get there not with flashy, empty gestures, but by taking the harder, better path of actually reducing the emissions from flying. I believe the world and the airline industry has to be bolder.”