Nuclear Innovation M= eets Aviation: CNF's Bold Plan for Sustainable Aviation

= Interview with Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) Co-Founder Alasdair Lumsden

Dirk Singer

<= /td>

Apr 2

<= /td>

<= /table>

READ IN APP

Summary

UK startup Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) = wants to replace liquid fossil fuels with a more sustainable alternat= ive.
To do this, CNF is designing a modular and scalable Power-to-Liqu= id (PtL) e-fuel facility that it intends to license regional sustainable av= iation fuel (SAF) producers globally.
CNF’s first step is to build and = operate a 25 kt/y commercial-scale plant in the UK, utilising a mix of Dire= ct Air Capture (DAC) + Biogenic CO2 as feedstock.
Given the enormous electricity re= quirement to produce PtL fuels, CNF is looking to nuclear energy as an ener= gy source.
To fund its first commercial plant, CNF intends to use a mixture of VC a= nd bank financing, with airline offtake agreements as a key to securing fin= ance.

CNF was co-founded by Alasdair Lumsden a= nd Sophie Zienkiew= icz on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. In an interview= with Sustainability in the Air, co-founder Lumsden reveals the colossal am= ount of renewable energy needed to decarbonise aviation through e-fuels, al= so known as Power-to-Liquid or PtL fuels.

= Note: PtL is a synthetically produced liquid hydrocarbon tha= t uses renewable electricity as its primary energy source and water and car= bon dioxide (CO2) as its main resources.= Learn more about = the different SAF pathways in our latest report.

According to Lumsden, the UK alone would need 60 gigawatts of electrici= ty to produce 15 billion litres of aviation fuel.

Given that the= UK’s current capacity is about 45 gigawatts, this would mean creatin= g the equivalent of 1.5 new electricity grids just for aviation.

<= p style=3D"color: rgb(54, 55, 55); font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; marg= in: 0 0 20px 0;">Other industry analysts have echoed Lumsden’s = analysis. For example, a report by the World Fund on 'Electrofuels for Aviation' projected that replacing a mere 8% of European aviation fuel with e-f= uel by 2040 would require the total electricity capacity of countries like = Sweden or the Netherlands.

Advancing SAF with nuclear energy and carbon capture innov= ations

In confronting this energy sour= ce dilemma for e-fuel production, Lumsden champions nuclear = power as a possible solution.

Th= ough Lumsden admits that nuclear has a reputational problem thanks to incid= ents like Fukushima, he pointed out that the reactor was built in the 1960s= , with Chernobyl’s built even earlier.

Dra= wing parallels with automotive safety advancements, he explains,

<= p style=3D"color: rgb(54, 55, 55); font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; fon= t-weight: 500; line-height: 26px; margin: 32px 0; text-align: center;">&quo= t;If you have a car that was built in the 60s, it doesn't have any of the s= afety features that you would find in a car of today.”

As a result, he believes that a new generation of nuclea= r reactors, like Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), could be used to generate fos= sil-fuel-free hydrogen. This pink hydrogen – as compared to gree= n hydrogen made from sources like solar or wind – would then be = used as one of the ingredients to make e-fuels.

= No longer a fringe idea, nuclear energy has received support from none othe= r than Emirates CEO Sir Tim Clark, who, like Lumsden, believes that we need to consider <= span>it as the key to unlocking aviation decarbonisation.

<= p style=3D"color: rgb(54, 55, 55); font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; marg= in: 0 0 20px 0;">Along with hydrogen, another key ingredient in making e-fu= els is captured CO2. As he considers this problematic, Lumsden said CNF is = looking to avoid CO2 captured from industrial sources.

"If you us= e an industrial point source of CO2, you are enabling a polluter to ki= nd of greenwash because that CO2 that was underground goes through that fac= tory, gets recycled by a PtL process, but it still ultimately ends up in th= e sky.”

Instead, CNF aims to utilise CO2 f= rom a blend of Direct Air Capture (DAC) and biogenic sources, while acknowl= edging the economic and technological hurdles in relying solely on DAC.

Looking toward future carbon capture methodologies, Lumsd= en also highlighted the potential of oceanic CO2 extraction, given its high= er concentration than atmospheric levels.

Despit= e the early-stage nature of such technologies, he noted that:

&q= uot;Direct air capture isn't the only carbon capture game in town. If you e= xtract CO2 from the oceans, it's about 150 times more concentrated by volum= e than in the air.”

Several projects= are, in fact, looking at oceanic CO2 extraction – for example, the <= /span>SeaCURE programme being run through the University of Exeter.

Why Lumsden is optimistic about the future

Lumsden says he is optimistic about aviation’s ability to reach n= et zero. In particular, he believes that the targets the industry has = set and the mandates put in place by regulators have helped concentrate min= ds:

“Targets will likely get missed, but they're still extremely= useful in focusing people's attention and are spurring action. These thing= s often start off slow, and it can feel like nothing is happening, but sudd= enly you get exponential growth.”

Lumsden = points to the renewable energy boom of the past five years as a model of wh= at could happen in aviation.

Further, addressing the c= ompany’s overall plans, Lumsden said that CNF has decided to forgo th= e development of a demonstration-scale plant, opting instead for direct pro= gression to commercial-scale production. This approach aims to overcome eco= nomic barriers and fulfil airline demand more efficiently.

̶= 0;Initially, we were going to do a 1kt demo scaling to 12kt commercial, but= we've decided to skip that and go straight to a 25kt commercial-scale faci= lity. The economics of a small facility just don't work. By going larger, w= e'll have cheaper fuel, enabling us to secure offtakes and enabling bankabi= lity. We're in early-stage discussions with a potential site with the CO2 a= nd grid connection we need.”

Of course, cr= eating commercial SAF plants is extremely capital intensive, with a cost of= $500+ million mentioned at the recently concluded SAF Investor Conference = in London.

Lumsden said this figure is realistic, but = CNF didn’t intend to rely on VC funding alone. Instead, it would= adopt a dual approach: combining venture capital for operational costs wit= h project finance for constructing the production facility. This strategy w= ill be bolstered by securing off-take agreements with airlines to ensure re= venue stability and attract investment.

Following the = construction of its first commercial plant by the end of this decade, Lumsd= en explained that he sees CNF licensing its technology to other fuel produc= ers worldwide for use in their SAF facilities.

Our take

Currently, the resources required to produce sufficien= t quantities of e-fuels don’t exist in countries like the UK. Rather = than gloss over these issues, CNF is adopting a forward-looking approach, w= here nuclear energy could be used to produce e-fuels, with CO2 being taken = from biogenic sources and DAC, and eventually new methods such as ocean car= bon capture.
Meanwhile, going direc= tly to a commercial-scale facility recognises that the upcoming SAF mandate= s in areas like the European Union will compel airlines to seek SAF supplie= s sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading Sustainabili= ty in the Air! Subscribe for free to receive new posts in your inbox.

Sustainability in the Air is f= ree today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Sustainability in the= Air that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You = won't be charged unless they enable payments.

Pledge your support

<= /tr>

Comment

Restack

--935b7f448bbbb82f9b85f78d677117b493bd94b547fdb34d8cfaf8457097--