Techno-economic analysis of sustainable aviation fuel production from CO2

November 24, 2025

This thesis presents a process of transforming carbon dioxide emissions, traditionally regarded as waste, into sustainable aviation fuels. This work is motivated by the urgent need to face climate change and lower greenhouse gas emissions to the athmosphere, specialy from highly poluting sectors such as the aviation sector, contributing with almost 3% of global CO2 emissions, or the cement industry, which is responsible for almost 9%. In this work, several sustainable aviation fuel production pathways were compared, leading to the conclusion that Power-to-Liquids technologies hold the greatest potential for emission reduction. Among the the Power-to-Liquids routes analyzed, the Methanol-to-Jet pathway was identified as highly promising. The process designed and simulated in Aspen Plus consisted of the synthesis of methanol, followed by amethanol-to-olefins conversion section, and subsequent upgrading of these olefins to hydrocarbons in the jet fuel range. The results of this process simulation demonstrated the technical feasibility of the overall process, achieving a carbon conversion from raw material to final product of 81,5%, confirming its strong potential for sustainable fuel production. An analysis to the heat integration revealed noticable reductions in utility costs, contributing to an improvement in process viability. Economic analysis showed that while the methanol route presents promising technical results, its profitability remains highly dependent on green hydrogen prices and the several sustainable aviation production scale. Overall, this work reinforces the crucial role of CO2 in the production of fuels for a more sustainable and cleaner future.

Authors in the community:

• 

  J

  João Pedro Vieira Praxedes

  ist1100416

Supervisors of this institution:

• 

  D

  Diogo Narciso

  ist145829

• 

  C

  Carlos Manuel Faria de Barros Henriques

  ist12178

chemical-engineering - Chemical engineering

por - Portuguese

Instituto Superior Técnico