Sasol’s Care-o-sene – the Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene – has secured 40 million euros ($38.8mn) in funding, allowing work to begin.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will provide 30mn euros ($29.1mn) while the industrial partners will provide a further 10mn ($9.7mn).
Dr Dirk Schaer, lead technical marketing catalyst at Sasol said the plans were “an important building block of the German National Hydrogen Strategy. We are delighted that the BMBF has recognised the enormous potential in the Care-o-sene research project on the novel Fischer-Tropsch catalysts and supports the work.”
Care-o-sene aims to develop next generation Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. These would produce sustainable kerosene or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on an industrial scale. Production of this kerosene would use green hydrogen and CO2.
Airlines see SAF as a key means to cut emissions. Traditional oil-based products have been hard to shift.
Partners in the research include Sasol Germany, Sasol and the Helmholtz‐Zentrum Berlin (HZB). The Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), The University of Cape Town (UCT) and Ineratec are also involved.
Catalysing plans
HZB head of strategy Dr Tobias Sontheimer said each partner would provide “dedicated expertise in catalysis research”. The work on “with successful companies on technological implementation makes the project very special”.
Sasol and partners launched the Care-o-sene project in May. The ceremony involved German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ineratec, in May, said the plan was to develop catalysts with less metal, more activity and a longer lifetime. Ineratec specialises in building modular power-to-liquid plants, producing sustainable kerosene.
Sasol recently struck an agreement with the Netherlands-based Centre for Energy Innovation of the University of Twente in Enschede. The deal will aim to develop technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.