Boeing and the Technion are developing a fuel in Israel that will make it possible to fly even in 2050

While the public debate on the climate crisis focuses on electric vehicles and renewable energy, one large, expensive and especially polluting industry faces a clear finish line: civil aviation. By the year 2050, according to the international regulation, the world will not be able to continue operating airplanes using fossil fuels. The problem is that the planes themselves are not going away, and neither is the demand for flights.

This means the development of liquid, jet fuel, which functions exactly like the existing fuel, without the need to change engines, infrastructure or flight procedures. “The captain will not know if you will fuel the plane with fuel produced from a new process or with fuel that originates from the ground,” explains Mazorsky.

Despite dealing with the fuel itself, the people of the project emphasize that the economic story of Israel is not in the production of the fuel, but in the technological core that makes it possible. “The catalyst is the heart of the process,” Mazursky says. “This is the component that makes the production efficient and economical, and it will be developed and produced in Israel, while being protected by patents.”

According to the vision, while the fuel production facilities will be established around the world – near airports, power plants or waste facilities – the knowledge, technology and production of the critical component in the process will remain in Israel. “I imagine factories in Kiryat Shmona and Biruchem that produce the core of this industry,” he says. “This is a very significant economic potential.”

One of the main innovations in the project is the development of distributed technology: not only huge facilities, but small facilities that can be placed near existing sources of energy, carbon dioxide and water sources. The facilities will be located near airports. According to Boeing and the Technion, a unique experimental facility is being established on campus, in the Faculty of Aeronautics, which will enable advanced tests of jet fuels under different flight conditions.

“What is unique here is the constellation,” says Prof. Gazit. “Very few places in the world concentrate such an amount of academia, industry and talent around one goal. This gives Israel a real competitive advantage. There are not many places in the world where so many faculties work together on one problem – chemistry, aeronautics, materials and the environment. This combination allows us to develop processes that can really work in the field.”

Against the background of the war and the discussion of academic and economic boycotts, the project people emphasize a clear message: Boeing is not only not retreating, but is deepening its investment. “Boeing has no existential justification to continue producing airplanes if no solution to the emissions problem is found,” says Mazursky. “And they see the Technion and Israel as the leaders of this solution.” Prof. Gazit adds: “On a personal level, I do not experience boycotts. There is great interest in the technology that is developing here from all over the world.”

The project is still in development stages, and no one promises an immediate solution or overly optimistic timelines. This is a complex, expensive and long engineering process. But this is also a realistic process. “This is not science fiction,” concludes Mazursky. “It’s a matter of efficiency, of good engineering. And if we succeed, it could become one of the anchors of the growth of the Israeli economy in the coming decades. I’m not talking about a theoretical dream. In my mind’s eye, one can imagine the future construction of factories in Kiryat Shmona and Biruchem, which will provide the technological core of this industry to the world,” he said.

Beyond the environmental aspect, the economic significance of the project may be far-reaching: the creation of a new Israeli industry, rich in knowledge and patents, which will place Israel at the heart of the global value chain of future aviation. “The fuel itself will be produced all over the world, but the catalyst is the core of the entire process. It is a knowledge-rich component, protected by patents, that we want to be produced in Israel and remain here,” says Mazorsky.

In a world where the sky is filled with planes and the pressure to reduce emissions only increases, the answer may not come from a new plane, but from a new fuel, which will be developed here, in the city of Carmel.