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Flying with fuel made from sunlight: The world's first airline to use solar kerosene | SWISS
The Lufthansa Group and Synhelion are taking a pioneering role in the production and use of sustainable fuels
Lufthansa Group and SWISS have agreed on a strategic partnership with the start-up Synhelion, which was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), to bring solar fuel to market. Synhelion is a pioneer in the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from renewable energy sources. Its breakthrough technology uses concentrated solar heat to produce syngas, from which kerosene is subsequently synthesized in standard industrial processes. This "sun-to-liquid" process will make a major contribution to the decarbonization of air travel, as only as much CO2 is emitted during combustion as was previously used for production.
Synhelion – Turning sunlight into fuel
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Synhelion – Turning sunlight into fuel.
Sustainable aviation fuels close the carbon cycle
Our team-up with Synhelion is founded on our shared vision to make carbon-neutral flying in regular flight operations possible through the use of solar fuel. We are proud that SWISS will be the first airline in the world to fly with solar kerosene. In partnering with Synhelion, we are supporting Swiss innovation and are actively pursuing and promoting the development, the market introduction and the scaling-up of this highly promising technology for producing sustainable fuels.
Dieter Vranckx
Member of the Executive Board, Lufthansa Group
SWISS will be the world's first airline to fly with solar fuel
Synhelion inaugurated in June 2024 the world’s first industrial-scale plant to produce synthetic fuels using solar heat in Jülich (Germany). The Lufthansa Group Airline SWISS is to become the first buyer of the solar kerosene. The agreed partnership also includes support for the Lufthansa Group and SWISS in the development of Synhelion's planned commercial fuel plant in Spain, which is to be built from the beginning of 2025. A total of 1,000 tons of fuel per year are to be produced there.
This cooperation once again underscores the pioneering role of the Lufthansa Group, which has been active in the research, testing and use of SAF for more than ten years and is driving key technologies such as the Sun-to-Liquid process as part of the CleanTech Hub.
The Lufthansa Group CleanTech Hub is proud of this partnership, and is looking forward to further collaboration to get this technology scaled and commercialized.
