Denzil Moodley likes to have a proven appeal to visitors. He shows off a few drops of liquid, one of the results of previous research. He works for Sasol, a major chemical company in South Africa. It is developing new catalysts for the production of aviation fuels in China in the climate, along with Helmholtz-Zentulam Berlin (HZB), Karlsruhe University of Technology (KIT), and other partners in industry and science. Moodley holds a container.
The goal is ambitious. Enables processes that can be used to produce large-scale aviation fuels from raw materials CO2 and green hydrogen. Seven project partners in Germany and South Africa want to develop catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a critical step in this process. These catalysts are essential for large-scale production of green kerosene. The more refined the catalyst, the more efficient it is to produce so-called sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). In the Fischer-Tropsch process, known for decades, carbon dioxide is used to produce syngas that can be used to produce synthetic fuels. This process requires a lot of energy, but its efficiency and jet fuel yield can be significantly improved with optimized catalysts. This is the goal of the South Africa-German Innovation Project Care-O-Sene, supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Denzil Moodley plays a key role. He and his research group are responsible for expanding the process to a semi-industrial scale, from small bottles of fuel to thousands of liters. “This can only be done when the industry and research work closely,” says Denzil Moodley. “Everyone has unique ways and strengths that combine with our projects. As an industrial researcher, he is currently contributing an industrial perspective behind the scenes at HZB.” He has built it to the next level. We have more conversations, more interactions, more collaborative plans. ”
“As the first step, we identified four different catalysts, some of which are in advanced developmental stages and promise to be even more efficient, but others need to develop more,” explains Denzil Moodley. Sasol, the South African company where he works, has decades of experience in a well-positioned catalyst development division with Fischer-Tropsch Technology, but links with HZB “open new possibilities that don't allow access to South African synchrotrons,” says Moodley. “Usually, we use a catalyst, carry out the reaction and then analyze the catalyst (postmortem). However, thanks to HZB, we can observe directly during the reaction.” This allows researchers to get better ideas about where things can be optimized.
