Sustainable Aviation Fuels Production via Biogas Reforming and Fischer-Tropsch Integrated with Solid Oxide Electrolysis

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) can be pivotal, gradually replacing fossil kerosene and lowering carbon emissions without changing the existing infrastructure. One of the pathways to produce SAFs is through the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) process. The present work proposes an integrated process of sustainable aviation fuel production from biogas through a reforming process, Fischer-Tropsch (FT), and a solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) process. Aspen Plus v14 is used to build an integrated kinetic process model for biogas reforming, FTS and hydrocracking. The technical evaluation is assessed with several key performance indicators, such as carbon efficiency and process efficiency. In addition, two scenarios are investigated in this study for H2 supply from SOEC before and after reforming. The output products consist of kerosene and diesel since the tail gas and naphtha are recycled to the reformer to maximize SAF production. The simulation results show that the carbon efficiency of the integrated process is between 96.3% and 96.5%. Meanwhile, the process efficiency is between 40.1% and 40.9%. The process efficiency can be further improved by investigating the options for heat integration, with subsequent economic and environmental analysis to determine the production cost of SAFs and the CO2 reduction potential compared to conventional aviation fuel. In addition, projection cost analysis is needed to determine the decline in the cost of fuel production in the future.