Dubai Airshow 2023: Boeing signs MOU with Zero for new SAF product

Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding at the show today to support the certification of a new synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

At the signing of the MoU yesterday were (l to r) Brian Moran, Boeing VP global sustainability policy and partnerships; Sheila Remes, Boeing VP environmental engagement and business development; Patrick Lowe, CEO Zero Petroleum; Dr Brendan Nelson, president Boeing Global; and Oliver Christian, the UK’s consul-general in Dubai and trade commissioner for the Middle East and Pakistan.

The US manufacturer will help UK company Zero Petroleum to steer its new SAF through the approvals process, a process likely to take up to two years.

The work is being undertaken at Sheffield, northern England, and is the latest stage in longstanding Boeing support for research work there.

“We really need to focus on the biggest lever [to cut emissions] and SAF is 65 per cent of the opportunity in front of us,” said Sheila Remes, Boeing’s vice-president, environmental engagement and business development.

The new fuel being developed by Zero Petroleum uses water to produce green hydrogen and CO2 from direct air capture to create carbon. The two ingredients are then combined in a version of the Fischer-Tropsch process to create a synthetic SAF that will be a 100 per cent ‘drop in’ fuel that can replace fossil fuel.

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