Single-step production of kerosene-based fuels from carbon dioxide and hydrogen

Air Company has developed carbon dioxide hydrogenation technology that produces paraffins (C8-C16 and higher) in a single step using only carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases as feedstock. The hydrogen gas is sourced using renewably powered water electrolysis; thus the only byproduct of the process is the oxygen that is coproduced from the electrolyzer. Coupling this system with direct air capture technologyenables production of kerosene-based fuels using only air, water, and renewable electricity. Air Company has demonstrated this process at the pilot scale, producing a metric ton of products per week and operating for over 8,600 operating hours in 2021.Phase 1 focused on developing a model that describes the CO2to kerosene process. While the model helped us identify the areas of uncertainty, additional operational data is still needed to build a high-fidelity model that allows us to optimize the reactor performance. To address the data gap and further support Phase 2 efforts, we will expand the model with more granular data obtained primarily by lab-scale testing and supported by available pilot scale data. We will further leverage progress made in Phase 1 to optimize our fuel production and downstream processing toinform fuel formulation and production to meet ASTM specificationsto ensure the produced fuel meets the standard.At the end of this STTR project, a technical feasibility report for deploying this technology on Earth and Mars will be thoroughly assessed and delivered to NASA. Air Company has developed a single-step process that is capable of producing kerosene directly from carbon dioxide. Specifically, the kerosene-based fuels that are targeted by the process are Jet-A (for sustainable aviation fuel) and RP-1 (for sustainable rocket propellant). This is a significant innovation in that it takes a process that would typically require several different chemical reactors, condensing it to one. In doing so, it achieves the highest energy and carbon efficiency for the conversion of carbon dioxide into long-chain hydrocarbon fuels, like sustainable aviation fuel. We demonstrated this process for the first time in 2021 on the metric ton scale for over 8000 operating hours, proving its industrial feasibility. For NASA, we propose to use our data, expertise, and experimental systems to further optimize the system for space-relevant applications, such as deployment for RP-1 production on Earth and Mars. Air Company has partnered with New York University to build a process model for an integrated system that produces RP-1 rocket propellant grade kerosene using only air, water, and renewable electricity. The system uses patent pending technology to reduce the energy cost and footprint of direct air capture, combined with water electrolysis to generate the feedstocks for Air Company's single-step carbon dioxide hydrogenation reactor. Phase I focused on developing a model that describes the CO2 conversion process which helped identify the areas of uncertainty. However additional operational data is still needed to build a high-fidelity model that allows us to optimize our reactor performance. Phase 2 focuses on continuing to collect data from our carbon dioxide to kerosene system with the aim of strengthening the model developed in Phase 1 and delivering a detailed engineering model to NASA. To this end the two major objectives of this Phase 2 project are to: 1. develop a detailed computational model of the CO2 conversion process and identify optimal operation parameters, 2. optimize fuel production to support commercialization of the technology. 

Our technology can be used by NASA on Earth, as a method of producing sustainable RP-1 as a drop-in replacement for the fossil fuels currently used as rocket propellant. Additionally, this technology can be used on Mars to produce a stable and storable fuel in-situ, using only the Martian atmosphere, water, and solar photovoltaic electricity. This fuel could be used to power habitats on Mars, used as rocket propellant for a return trip to Earth, or used as a chemical feedstock for further in-situ resource utilization.  Air Company is currently pursuing this technology for the production of sustainable aviation fuel, to help address the greenhouse gas emissions of the aviation industry. Further applications of the technology can be used to produce virtually any fuel or chemical feedstock that is currently made from fossil fuels on Earth, replacing the fossil-derived fuels and chemicals with air-derived ones. 

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.