The members of the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany e.V. welcome the National Hydrogen Strategy (NWS) adopted by the Federal Cabinet on June 10th 2020. It is quite rightly stated that aviation will be dependent on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future. Sustainable aviation fuels, for whose green hydrogen production is important in any case, i.e. irrespective of whether they are biogenous or electricity-based, are the decisive factor for reducing GHG emissions in aviation.
Melanie Form, member of the board and head of the office of aireg e.V., told NWS: “The use of kerosene from Power-to-Liquid (PtL) processes is essential to achieve a significant reduction of GHG emissions in aviation in the medium to long term. However, blue or green hydrogen can already be used today to produce near-fuelled synthetic kerosene. The project recently launched by aireg members Sunfire and Neste in the port of Rotterdam demonstrates exactly this development. In addition, a project financed by the German Federal Ministry of Transport was already carried out in 2016/2017 on aireg initiative, in which the project partners DBFZ, IE Leipzig and LBST demonstrated the chances and challenges that result from the combination of PtX and HEFA production.”
Kay Kratky, President for Industry and Aviation, added: “We cannot wait another 10 years for the first significant quantities of PtL kerosene. Instead, Germany should move as quickly as possible into the use of sustainable kerosene based on biogenic raw materials as well, such as the technology of Caphenia, another aireg member, which will be available in larger quantities in 2 to 3 years. The aireg roadmap proposes possible approaches to this end. The rapid introduction of a quota for sustainable aviation fuels in relation to European kerosene sales would make sense, as it would support market development and create investment incentives for manufacturers, and keep the economic burdens on end-users within acceptable limits.”
The “Roadmap for the Introduction and Development of Sustainable Aviation Fuels” recently prepared by the aireg members proposes a development path for the introduction of sustainable fuels (SAF) taking into account technological, ecological, economic and regulatory frameworks and requirements. You can download the roadmap here.