Johnson Matthey has launched HyCOgen, a technologyt designed to play a pivotal role in enabling the conversion of captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By combining HyCOgen with the award-winning FT CANS Fischer Tropsch technology (developed in collaboration with bp), Johnson Matthey offers an integrated, scalable solution for use in the efficient and cost-effective production of renewable-power-based SAF.

HyCOgen, Johnson Matthey’s Reverse Water Gas Shift technology, is a catalyzed process to convert green hydrogen and CO₂ into carbon monoxide (CO), which is combined with additional hydrogen to form synthesis gas (syngas), a crucial building block in the manufacture of fuels and chemicals.

The integration with the FT CANS technology provides an end-to-end, optimized and highly scalable process that turns more than 95% of the CO₂ into high quality synthetic crude oil. This synthetic crude oil can be further upgraded into sustainable drop-in fuel products including aviation fuels, renewable diesel and naphtha.

The scalability of the integrated HyCOgen/FT CANS solution enables cost-effective deployment across a wide range of project sizes—from small-scale, fed by hydrogen from a single electrolyzer, through to world-scale with multiple large electrolyzer modules.

The global aviation industry is responsible for 12% of transport-related CO₂ emissions, therefore substantial production of low carbon intensity SAF is essential to mitigate emissions. Both the EU and US are setting aggressive targets for its scale-up and blending, and this is expected to increase SAF demand significantly. Johnson Matthey said that its HyCOgen solution, along with the FT CANS technology, can help increase the supply of SAF through its efficient production at scale.

The integrated HyCOgen/FT CANS solution is available now from Johnson Matthey.