How Scientists Turn Air Into Jet Fuel - Revolutionary E-Fuels - video Dailymotion

Curiosity AI

Did you know a Swiss airplane flew using fuel made from air and sunlight? This isn't biofuel or hydrogen, but actual jet fuel created by capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. This is a massive step forward for aviation technology and the aviation industry, pushing towards a carbon neutral future and sustainable fuel to combat climate change. This aircraft advancement could change everything.  Swiss International Air Lines just flew the world's first commercial flight powered by fuel made from air and sunlight. This isn't science fiction - it's happening right now, and it could revolutionize aviation. In this deep dive, we explore Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology that literally pulls CO2 from the atmosphere and transforms it into synthetic jet fuel. Companies like Climeworks, Twelve, and Infinium are scaling this technology from pilot projects to industrial facilities capable of producing millions of liters annually. We cover the complete process from atmospheric CO2 capture to ASTM-certified drop-in jet fuel, the major players building facilities worldwide, the economics and energy requirements, and the EU and US policies creating guaranteed demand for e-fuels.  Chapters: 00:00 The Impossible Flight 00:26 THE AVIATION PROBLEM 00:57 HOW AIR BECOMES JET FUEL 01:58 THE COMPANIES MAKING IT HAPPEN 02:49 THE ECONOMIC REALITY CHECK 03:33 POLICY GAME CHANGERS 04:28 SCALING CHALLENGES 05:19 CLIMATE IMPACT REALITY CHECK 06:01 WHAT HAPPENS BY 2030 06:40 CONCLUSION: THE FUTURE OF FLYING  KEY COMPANIES & PROJECTS MENTIONED: Direct Air Capture Facilities:  Climeworks - Mammoth Facility (Iceland): https://climeworks.com/plant-mammoth Occidental/1PointFive - STRATOS (Texas): https://www.oxy.com/news/news-releases/occidental-and-1pointfive-secure-class-vi-permits-for-stratos-direct-air-capture-facility/ CarbonCapture Inc. - Modular DAC Systems: https://www.carboncapture.com/ Verdox - Electric Carbon Removal: https://www.verdox.com/  E-Fuel Producers:  Twelve - E-Jet Sustainable Aviation Fuel: https://www.twelve.co/saf Infinium - Project Roadrunner (Texas): https://www.infiniumco.com/news/infinium-announces-construction-of-large-scale-efuels-production-facility-in-texas Synhelion - Solar Fuels (Switzerland): https://synhelion.com/news/swiss-becomes-worlds-first-airline-to-integrate-synhelion-solar-fuel-into-its-flight-operations HIF Global - Haru Oni Facility (Chile): https://hifglobal.com/locations/hif-haru-oni Norsk e-Fuel - Norway Project: https://www.norsk-e-fuel.com/projects OXCCU - One-step CO2 Conversion: https://www.oxccu.com/  Technology Partners:  Topsoe - SOEC Electrolysis: https://www.topsoe.com/soec  POLICY & REGULATIONS:  EU ReFuelEU Aviation Mandate: https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-modes/air/environment/refueleu-aviation_en US Treasury 45Z Clean Fuel Credit: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2780 CAAFI Fuel Qualifications: https://www.caafi.org/fuel-qualifications

Transcript

00:00What if I told you that this Swiss airplane is flying on fuel made from literally nothing but

00:04air and sunlight, not biofuel, not hydrogen. Actual jet fuel, chemically identical to what

00:12powers every commercial flight, but created by pulling CO2 directly from the atmosphere.

00:18This isn't science fiction. This happened in 2025, and it's just the beginning of a revolution that

00:23could change aviation forever. Aviation accounts for about 3% of global CO2 emissions, but

00:29here's the problem. You can't exactly put a battery in a Boeing 777 for a 15-hour flight to

00:36Singapore. The energy density just isn't there yet. So while cars are going electric and ships

00:42might run on hydrogen, aviation needs liquid fuel. The question is, can we make that fuel without

00:48drilling it out of the ground? The answer is increasingly yes, and it's happening faster

00:54than most people realize. Here's how you turn air into jet fuel. First, you need a direct air

01:01capture facility, essentially a massive vacuum cleaner for CO2. The largest operational one right

01:08now is Climework's Mammoth facility in Iceland, which can capture 36,000 tons of CO2 per year.

01:15Next, you split water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. This green hydrogen is

01:23crucial. If you're using coal power, you're defeating the whole purpose. Then comes the

01:28chemistry magic. You combine that captured CO2 with green hydrogen through a process called

01:35Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, or newer one-step processes, to create synthetic hydrocarbons.

01:42Finally, you refine these hydrocarbons to meet ASTM D7566 standards, the same specification as

01:50conventional jet fuel. The result is drop-in compatible fuel that works in any existing

01:56airplane engine. So who's making this happen? Let's start with 12, formerly called Opus 12.

02:05They've created something called E-Jet, synthetic aviation fuel that's already ASTM certified and

02:11flying with United Airlines and the US Air Force. Then there's Infinium, building what they call

02:17Project Roadrunner in Texas, planned to be the world's largest e-fuels facility when it comes online.

02:24Syngelion took a different approach entirely. Instead of using electricity, they use concentrated

02:30solar heat to drive the chemical reactions. They just delivered the world's first solar-made jet fuel to

02:36Swiss International Airlines in 2025. And HIF Global in Chile is producing E-Gasoline and E-Kerosene at

02:45their Haruoni facility, with backing from Porsche and Shell. But let's talk money. Because this isn't cheap.

02:52Right now, direct air capture costs somewhere between $600 and $1,000 per tonne of CO2. The companies say they

03:01can get that down to $100-$250 per tonne at scale, but we're not there yet. And the energy requirements

03:07are massive. It takes about 20 to 30 kilowatt hours of electricity to produce one liter of synthetic jet fuel.

03:15That's enough electricity to power an average home for about a day, just for one liter. This means E-fuels

03:21currently cost around €3 per liter or more, compared to about €0.50 for conventional jet fuel.

03:28Without subsidies, airlines simply can't afford this. But here's where politics comes in to change the

03:35game. The European Union's Refuel EU Aviation Mandate requires airlines to use 2% sustainable

03:43aviation fuel starting in 2025, ramping up to 35% by 2050. More importantly, there's a specific sub-target for

03:52E-kerosene, at least 1.2% by 2030, jumping to 35% by 2050. This creates guaranteed demand regardless of cost.

04:03In the United States, two tax credits are making the economics work. The 45Q credit gives up to $180

04:10per tonne for captured CO2, and the new 45Z Clean Fuel Credit can provide up to $1.75 per gallon for

04:19sustainable aviation fuel. These subsidies are essentially bridging the cost gap until the

04:25technology reaches commercial viability. But scaling this technology isn't easy.

04:31Climework's Mammoth facility has faced operational challenges in 2025,

04:36performing below its nameplate capacity and requiring workforce adjustments.

04:41The next major test comes from Occidental's Stratos facility in Texas, designed to capture 500,000

04:48tons of CO2 per year, more than 10 times larger than Mammoth. If Stratos works as planned when it comes

04:55online at the end of 2025, it could prove that DAC can reach industrial scale. There's also the

05:01fundamental question of energy competition. Every kilowatt hour used to make E-fuels is a kilowatt hour that

05:09can't electrify ground transport, heat buildings, or power industry. We need massive renewable energy

05:16expansion to make this work without tradeoffs. Let's be honest about the climate impact. E-fuels

05:22are only as clean as the electricity used to make them. If you're using grid power that's still partly

05:28fossil-fueled, your sustainable aviation fuel might not be that sustainable. And E-fuels only address CO2

05:36emissions. They don't solve aviation's other climate impacts like contrails and high-altitude nitrogen

05:42oxides, which some scientists estimate could be as significant as the CO2. The real question is whether

05:50massive investment in E-fuels is the best path forward, or whether that money and renewable energy

05:56would have bigger climate impact elsewhere. Looking ahead to 2030, the industry needs to scale from today's

06:03small pilot projects to hundreds of thousands of tons of production annually to meet those EU targets.

06:11Projects like Norsk E-fuel in Norway, planning 50 million liters per year, and multiple facilities

06:17from Infinium could make this possible. But most are still in development phases,

06:23with major technical and financial risks ahead. The companies say they can reach cost parity with

06:29conventional jet fuel by 2030-2035, but that depends on continued technology improvements, cheap renewable

06:37electricity, and sustained policy support. So, can we really power aviation with fuel made from air?

06:44The technology exists, and it's working today, but at tiny scale and high cost. The next five years

06:51will determine whether this becomes a niche solution for premium routes or a mainstream technology that

06:57could decarbonize flying. What do you think? Will E-fuels made from air become the future of aviation?

07:05Or are we better off focusing on other solutions like hydrogen, or even accepting that flying needs

07:10to become more expensive and less frequent? Let me know in the comments. And if you want to dive deeper

07:16into the companies and technologies making this happen, I've linked all my sources in the description below.

How Scientists Turn Air Into Jet Fuel - Revolutionary E-Fuels

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