New plant to cover 20% of Germany’s e-kerosene needs from 2026

BERLIN (Reuters) – Airbus, Uniper, Siemens Energy and Sasol said on Thursday they would produce 10,000 tonnes of e-kerosene each year in a new production facility scheduled to run from 2026 in the northern German city of Hamburg.

E-kerosene, also called synthetic kerosene or power-to-liquid (PtL), is a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from CO2, water and renewably-sourced electricity in a bid to phase out fossil fuels but it is still made in very small quantities.

The amount produced each year in Hamburg would cover 20% of the German government’s target for PtL to make up 0.5% of all aviation fuels used in the country by 2026, the companies said in a joint statement at the ILA Berlin Air Show trade fair.

The plant’s capacity would later be expanded, the international consortium said without providing a specific timeline.

The facility would cover all PtL production steps from renewable energy generation to delivery to the customer, the companies said.

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska; Editing by Edmund Blair)