Fuel for the Israeli economy: Boeing and the Technion are jointly developing jet fuel

Dr. Nelson, a physician by training, has held senior positions in the Australian government, including Member of the Australian Parliament; Minister of Defense; Minister of Education, Science and Training; and Ambassador to Europe. During his visit to the Technion, Nelson said: “Beyond supplying high-quality, fuel-efficient aircraft to our customers, Boeing works in the global and regional arena to strengthen energy security, to support the growth of the civil aviation industry and to create opportunities New economics through sustainable jet fuel and other technologies. We are happy to cooperate with the Technion and the other partners in SAF, the innovation center of Boeing and the Technion, in the field of sustainable jet fuel (SAF), and to support the Israeli aerospace industry. “

“This is a historic collaboration of national importance for the State of Israel,” said Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “The partnership with Boeing, a leading global player in the field of aviation, is for us an expression of confidence in the Technion, its researchers and our technological capabilities. In this partnership, the Technion’s experts take on a major task: to develop technologies for the production of clean fuels in sustainable processes and thus make a significant contribution to the world of aviation – and no less important, to human health and the environment. I have no doubt that we will meet this task as we have met many other challenges in the last hundred years.”

The president of Boeing Israel added that the cooperation between the Technion and Boeing will pave the way for the development of the most advanced Israeli technologies and capabilities that will be integrated into future generations of aerospace systems around the world.

The Boeing-Technion partnership was initiated by Boeing and includes partners from the industry and government sectors in Israel. The Israeli government promoted moves and allocated financial support to accelerate the Israeli SAF industry, and in the process established the iSAF research association through the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and SAF-IL, an acceleration program for Israeli start-up companies engaged in the development of SAF, through the Innovation Authority.

In order to lead this groundbreaking vision for the development of SAF, Boeing partnered with Prof. Gidi Gerder of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion to establish the center, which has now completed the phase of proof of feasibility. As part of the partnership, 11 faculty members and dozens of research students from five different faculties work at the Technion, dealing with various aspects of the production of aviation fuels, including efficient and competitive production, theoretical aspects of reactions Catalyticity and fuel combustion, safety aspects, the complete life cycle of the product and the establishment and operation of an experimental fuel testing facility at the Technion – a facility that will be the second of its kind in the world.

The announcement of the Boeing-Technion partnership was planned for October 2023. Despite the events of October 7 and the war that broke out in their wake, it was decided to continue the technical work, as Dr. Brandon explained a few months later: “We launched this project, a project of resilience and innovation in the spirit of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, shortly after the horrific attack of October 7. When I met the Prime Minister a few months before, I told him that if there is a country in the world that can solve the emissions challenge of civil aviation, it is Israel and at the head of it is the Technion, the Israeli MIT.”