ORLEN HyFly project - large-scale production of synthetic fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO)

ORLEN Group, in accordance with the updated in 2023 ORLEN 2030 Strategy and the declaration of achieving emission neutrality in 2050, is developing new areas, taking into account new technologies, consumer needs and, above all, environmental trends. Synthetic fuels are part of the ORLEN Group's future investment plan, and company's strategy assumes the production of synthetic fuels at the level of 70,000 tonnes of annual volume from 2030.

We are pleased to share with the all RLCF members some information regarding the project connected with the synthetic fuels production called HyFly.

Recently, synthetic fuels have been mentioned in all cases. This is happening due to decisions that were recently made at the European Union level. March of 2023 regulations were introduced to ban the registration of new vehicles with internal combustion engines after 2035. Although synthetic fuel production technologies have been known for more than a century, it's only now that they've really come into the spotlight. They are now considered as an alternative to fossil fuels, because the synthesis products, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, have similar properties to those produced from oil and natural gas.

Synthetic fuels, or e-fuels (PtX), are produced by the chemical synthesis of hydrogen, produced by electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide can be captured from industrial sources (fossil or biogenic origin) or directly from the air.

The properties of e- gasoline, e-diesel and e-jet are very similar to conventional fuels produced in refineries, except that they contain no sulfur at all. Synthetic fuels are very often classified as drop- in fuels ( fuels that can replace crude oil products without changes in customer applications) in the case of replacing current fossil fuels with their equivalent e-fuels, no modifications will be required to currently produced and operated internal combustion engines. Additionally, no interference with existing storage, transportation and distribution infrastructure will be required.

It is intended that e-fuels will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional fossil fuels. The greatest potential in terms of the amount of avoided greenhouse gas emissions is to use either bioCO₂ or CO₂ captured directly from the air as the raw material for the production of these fuels.

The "HyFly" project involves the construction of an installation for the large-scale production of synthetic fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) according to the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) technology using RFNBO hydrogen. It is produced in the electrolysis process based on renewable energy sources and captured CO2 of biological origin from biomass combustion and from municipal waste processing processes. This configuration of the installation will ensure an appropriate share of sustainable fuel in aviation fuel. This will make it possible to achieve ambitious goals in the production of RFNBO synthetic fuels, which EU Member States will be obliged to implement.

Thanks to the "HyFly" project, it will be possible to achieve a production capacity of approximately 70 kt/year of synthetic hydrocarbons, including high-quality synthetic, sustainable e-Jet RFNBO aviation fuel and valuable raw materials for petrochemicals. Moreover, the implementation of the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 2.6 million tonnes/CO2e during the first 10 years of its operation.

The HyFly Project aims at:

• applying highly integrated approach to production of synthetic aviation fuels,
• scaling up the idea of yield optimization by integrating the production infrastructure from the level of olefins production to the level of the entire value chain in the production of synthetic fuels.

Above mentioned activities will allow to respond to the needs of the European aviation market and to become partially independent of crude oil supplies. The project will be a significant step to scaling up of existing and planned to be commercially used synthetic aviation fuel production technologies. Moreover, the novel technological toolkit within the project will enable the implementation of an entirely new business model for the cost-effective production of green aviation fuels and high-value chemicals.

One of the main advantage of the "HyFly" project is its innovation using digital solutions. The first is real-time management of molecules, i.e. directing remaining products to appropriate refining and petrochemical installations in order to maximize the highest-margin products. The second solution is to track "green" carbon and electrons throughout the value chain, as required by the RED Directive, and optimize the share of "green" to "grey". It is based on process parameters, CO2 sources, energy supply, regulations and production schedules. The third is effective resource management in the context of optimal use of process water.

Due to regulatory conditions and the lack of an alternative (apart from biofuels) for fuels used in aviation, it is necessary to implement projects related to the production of synthetic fuels, such as HyFly.