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Considering the increasing concerns regarding climate change, a fundamental transformation in global energy policies is imperative, particularly within the aviation sector, which is historically anchored in the consumption of fossil fuels. This perspective presents a scholarly evaluation of the progression from deep-rooted fossil-fuel-dependent technologies to innovative strategies aimed at carbon neutrality, specifically focusing on the formulation of sustainable aviation fuel from CO2. An analytical review of the cutting-edge methodologies for CO2-to-jet fuel conversion is provided, and the practicality of current industrial models are assessed. This perspective explores the intricate consequences of adopting such groundbreaking technologies and evaluates their technical practicability, economic feasibility, and environmental advantages. The insights obtained from this study will substantially contribute to the discussion on energy sustainability, emphasizing the synergy between sophisticated CO2 conversion processes and the overarching goal of realizing global carbon neutrality.


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Fueling the future: Innovating the path to carbon-neutral skies with CO2-to-aviation fuel

Show Author's information Guo Tian1Chenxi Zhang1,2,3 ( )Fei Wei1,2 ( )
Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Ordos Laboratory, Ordos 017010, China
Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Considering the increasing concerns regarding climate change, a fundamental transformation in global energy policies is imperative, particularly within the aviation sector, which is historically anchored in the consumption of fossil fuels. This perspective presents a scholarly evaluation of the progression from deep-rooted fossil-fuel-dependent technologies to innovative strategies aimed at carbon neutrality, specifically focusing on the formulation of sustainable aviation fuel from CO2. An analytical review of the cutting-edge methodologies for CO2-to-jet fuel conversion is provided, and the practicality of current industrial models are assessed. This perspective explores the intricate consequences of adopting such groundbreaking technologies and evaluates their technical practicability, economic feasibility, and environmental advantages. The insights obtained from this study will substantially contribute to the discussion on energy sustainability, emphasizing the synergy between sophisticated CO2 conversion processes and the overarching goal of realizing global carbon neutrality.

Keywords: CO2, carbon neutral, aviation fuel

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Publication history

Received: 22 November 2023
Revised: 10 February 2024
Accepted: 02 March 2024
Published: 10 April 2024

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© The Author(s) 2024.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22278238, 22208186, 22238004, and 22109020), Beijing Nova Program (2022118), Key Research and Development Program of Inner Mongolia and Ordos, Ordos-Tsinghua Innovative & Collaborative Research Program in Carbon Neutrality and Ordos Laboratory.

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