Johnson Matthey, BP technologies picked for Spanish synthetic fuels plant

Technologies of Johnson Matthey Plc (LON:JMAT), one of which developed with BP plc (LON:BP), will be used in a new plant in Spain that will be one of the first in the world to produce synthetic fuels only from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2), the UK chemicals company said today.

The plant of Repsol SA (BME:REP) and Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) in Bilbao will produce drop-in fuels for road vehicles, planes and ships. Expected to come online in 2024, it will have an initial capacity of more than 2,100 tonnes per year.

The plant will use the Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS technology, co-developed by Johnson Matthey and BP, which turns syngas from industrial emissions, direct air capture or municipal solid waste, for instance, into long-chain hydrocarbons suitable for the production of diesel and jet fuels. The facility will also employ Johnson Matthey's new HyCOgen technology, which, thanks to a catalysed process, converts CO2 and green hydrogen into carbon monoxide (CO), which is then mixed with additional hydrogen to create syngas.

This is the second licence for the FT CANS technology and the first for HyCOgen.

“Converting CO2 into synthetic, lower-carbon fuels can meaningfully contribute to the reduction of transport emissions and, through this strategic partnership, we aim to harness innovative technologies that can unlock the full potential of both sustainable fuels and chemicals — and demonstrate their competitiveness," said Aramco chief technology officer Ahmad Al-Khowaiter.

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