RAF delivers world’s first flight using 100% net-zero synthetic fuel

Zero Petroleum, a British synthetic fuel company, and RAF announce the successful completion of the first flight in the world to be powered entirely by synthetic aviation fuel. The flight conducted by an Ikarus C42 aircraft has since been awarded “First aircraft powered by synthetic fuel” from Guinness World Records

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston KCB CBE ADC Chief of the Air Staff said: “Climate change is a transnational challenge which threatens global resilience and our shared security and prosperity. I am determined to tackle this head on and have set the Royal Air Force the ambitious goal to be Net Zero by 2040. The way we power our aircraft will be a big part of achieving that goal, and this exciting project to make aviation fuel from air and water shows how it might be done. I am delighted at the award of this world record and to see the Royal Air Force yet again at the leading edge of innovation and technology, as we have been throughout our history.”

Zero Petroleum’s synthetic fuel extracts hydrogen from water, using renewable energy; the hydrogen is then combined with carbon dioxide, captured from the atmosphere, to create “drop-in” fuels which entirely substitute current fossil-based aviation fuels. The process uses Direct FT™, an advanced proprietary variant of Fischer-Tropsch technology.

Zero Petroleum and its technology partner IGTL Technology combined efforts to design and build a production plant in in Peterhead, UK. The plant was then positioned at Billia Croo, Orkney, UK for fuel manufacturing operations during September and October 2021.

Read the full press release here.