EUBCE 2026 - Gonca SEBER - Assessing the Availability of Carbon to Produce Synthetic Fuels for Aviation in Europe

Assessing the Availability of Carbon to Produce Synthetic Fuels for Aviation in Europe

Short Introductive summary

A handful of studies refer to the amount of carbon dioxide available to reach European policy goals regarding synthetic fuels. The previous work is outdated in a constantly changing policy environment and does not reflect the current reality concerning the ReFuel EU targets and the most recent rules on the use of industrial point CO2 sources to satisfy these targets. Our work identifies the CO2 demand to reach these policy targets and estimates the amount of biogenic and fossil CO2 that will be available by 2050. ReFuelEU targets, including its synthetic fuels sub-target, could also be met with technologies such as enriched gasification, also known as Power and Biomass to Liquid (PBtL), combining biofuel and synthetic fuel production. This technology could supply part of the synthetic fuel demand, as the portion of the fuel produced from the electrolysis hydrogen would be eligible towards the synthetic fuel targets. Our work will illustrate whether PBtL is an attractive pathway to produce a combination of synthetic fuels and biofuels rather than fuels individually via other processes.

G. Seber, International Council on Clean Transportation, Washington DC, USA
C. Baldino, International Council on Clean Transportation, Berlin, GERMANY
N. Pavlenko, International Council on Clean Transportation, Washington DC, USA