Syzygy Plasmonics and the nonprofit research institute RTI International have partnered to showcase an all-electric CO2-to-Fuel production pathway at RTI's facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
The new technology has the potential to decarbonize transportation by converting CO2 and methane (CH4) into low-carbon-intensity fuels, which can be used to lower the carbon footprint of fossil-based jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline.
The results derived from the pilot project, which was sponsored by Equinor Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, provide data that will be used to design and build commercial CO2-to-Fuel plants enabled by Syzygy's technology.
The project combined three of Syzygy's CO2-reforming reactors with RTI's Fischer-Tropsch (FT) pilot plant to produce FT crude, which can be further refined into aviation-grade kerosene. In addition, when fed by captured CO2 and combined with biogas, landfill gas, or renewable natural gas, the solution offers low-carbon and low-cost sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
"Our light-driven reactors produce valuable syngas at a ratio that is ideal for feeding Fischer-Tropsch units to produce SAF," said Syzygy CEO Trevor Best. “Syzygy syngas can also be used to produce diesel, gasoline, and methanol. At scale, we're talking about significantly reducing and potentially eliminating the carbon intensity of shipping, trucking, and aviation."
The project integrates multiple Syzygy reactor cells in a multi-cell stack at a third-party site, demonstrating the company’s pathway for scaling its technology. A typical Syzygy plant is expected to consume about 200,000 tons of CO2 per year at commercial scale - equivalent to removing 45,000 cars from the road.
Furthermore, Syzygy's Ammonia e-Cracking technology has completed over 2000 hours of performance and optimization testing at its manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas.
The company is currently negotiating to finalize partners and a site for building a commercial CO2-to-Fuel plant.
