SWISS has concluded a new collaboration with the Swiss-based Metafuels SAF technology company. The partners aim to jointly promote the development and scaling-up of viable SAF solutions.
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SWISS has been actively involved in the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) for some years now. The airline and the Lufthansa Group are now taking a further step on this path by teaming up with Metafuels, a Swiss-based company that is developing SAF technologies. The new partnership is intended to drive and promote the further development and the bringing to market of viable SAF solutions.
SWISS and the Lufthansa Group are also considering committing long-term to SAF procurement contracts, not least in view of the new synthetic fuel additive quotas that are scheduled to be adopted in Switzerland and throughout the European Union from 2030 onwards.
Metafuels has developed a procedure that efficiently converts green methanol into sustainable aviation fuel. The new technology offers flexibility in the raw materials used – biomethanol or e-methanol – and is basically well scalable, too. The SAF produced can also be used in existing infrastructures and aircraft fleets.
Sustainable aviation fuels are a vital lever for achieving global decarbonization targets in the aviation sector. And synthetic fuels of the kind that Metafuels is developing have particularly strong potential to make air travel a much lower-emission activity. In teaming up with Metafuels, SWISS is both further underlining its commitment to sustainable aviation fuels and actively supporting Switzerland’s role and reputation as a research and innovation hub.
With its ‘aerobrew’ process, Metafuels has developed an innovative fuel manufacturing technology, which efficiently turns sustainable methanol, produced from renewable energy, water and carbon dioxide, into aviation fuel. Such synthetic SAFs are crucial to decarbonizing aviation. Metafuels is presently establishing a demonstration SAF production plant at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. Parallel to this, the company is also developing its first commercial SAF production plant in Rotterdam.
SWISS continues to take extensive action to minimize the carbon dioxide emissions from its flight operations. Along with investing in advanced and fuel-efficient aircraft, the use of sustainable aviation fuel is one of the prime levers for reducing such carbon emissions. SWISS has been pursuing various targeted initiatives and collaborations for many years now together with the Lufthansa Group, further partners and its customers to support and promote the development of sustainable fuels and the scaling-up of their production.