Lufthansa's SWISS airline enters into solar fuel partnership with Synhelion

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), part of the Lufthansa Group, will become the first airline in the world to use “sun-to-liquid” fuel as part of a new strategic collaboration with local solar fuels start-up Synhelion SA.

Synhelion, a spin-off of ETH Zurich, has developed a process for the use of concentrated sunlight to produce syngas that is subsequently synthesised into kerosene using standard industrial processes. When combusted, this carbon-neutral kerosene, also referred to as solar kerosene, will only produce as much carbon dioxide (CO2) as went into its manufacture, the company explains.

SWISS has agreed to become in 2023 the first customer for solar kerosene produced at Synhelion’s yet-to-be-built facility in Juelich, Germany. Under the new partnership, the Swiss airline and its parent group will also support the development of Synhelion’s planned commercial fuel production facility in Spain.

According to the announcement, SWISS intends to be substantially increasing its use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in the next few years in pursuit of its climate objectives.

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