Can Artificial Photosynthesis Be The Key to Mitigating Climate Change?

Recently, a Berkeley, California startup company that goes by the name, Twelve, has been capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from ambient air and turning it into E-Jet® fuel for aircraft.

E-Jet is not biofuel. Twelve’s novel process is unlike any other synthetic fuel I have described previously on this site where I have covered synthetic fuels produced using the Fischer-Tropsch process, synfuels made from vegetable oils, animal fats, and organic waste oil, and ethanol-based synfuel derived from corn, sugarcane, and switchgrass.

E-Jet is different because it is made from the CO2 in air, using water and renewable energy. The fuel is created using a CO2 electrochemical reactor, a type of electrolyzer that Twelve has named Opus. Opus’ secret sauce is a Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) that resembles a shiny black leaf and emulates the natural process in plants called photosynthesis.

Opus’ MEA is an artificial photosynthesis system. The byproduct is the same as produced in natural photosynthesis: oxygen. With zero carbon emissions, Opus is a technology that could alter the battle to mitigate climate change.

How so?

You can plug Opus into a utility company, or a fossil fuel, concrete, or chemical producer to help them cut carbon emissions. You can plug Opus into a Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant like the ones developed by Carbon Engineering, the Canadian company working with Occidental Petroleum to reduce carbon emissions from the latter’s fossil fuel operations.

The Twelve website states that “at scale, Opus can transform existing supply chains to eliminate up to 10% of global industrial emissions in hard-to-abate sectors.” Maybe that’s why MIT’s Technology Review listed Twelve as one of the 15 climate technology companies to watch in 2023.

Solving The Aviation Industry’s Dilemma 

Aviation is an industry sector struggling to reduce its carbon emissions. The sector produces 2% of global CO2 emissions, relying predominantly on kerosene-based jet fuel. Electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft are still not viable.

Electric aircraft have distinct disadvantages because as conventional fuel-powered aircraft operate they lose weight as fuel is burned. Batteries don’t get lighter as an airplane flies. They lose energy capacity without losing weight. That means battery-powered aircraft are range-restricted.

The fuel’s low energy density challenges hydrogen-powered aircraft. This means to use hydrogen, an aircraft needs larger fuel tanks to produce the same amount of thrust obtained from burning jet fuel. Larger tanks mean added weight and reduced payload capacity.

Twelve was able to attract as a first customer the United States Air Force (USAF). In 2021 it launched a pilot project. The USAF describes the experience with Twelve as “profound.”

Testing showed Opus was highly deployable and scalable. Synthetic fuel could be produced in situ saving the cost of transportation, storage, and delivery while minimizing risk. How much risk? At the height of the war in Afghanistan, attacks on fuel and water convoys accounted for more than 30% of casualties in the field.

For the USAF deploying Opus means less reliance on traditional fuel supply chains. Deployed units create fuel as needed where they are operating. Field operation and maintenance do not require highly skilled technicians.

Nicholas Flanders, CEO and co-founder of Twelve describes the implications of the USAF experience: “With carbon transformation, we are untethering aviation from petroleum supply chains.” 

One of those untethered customers is Alaska Air. The company’s first commercial CO2 facility, called AirPlant™, is being built in Moses Lake, Washington, where it will be powered by renewable hydroelectricity to produce E-Jet and another trademarked product called E-Naphtha. The latter will be used for making CO2Made® materials.

CO2Made materials will replace thousands of consumer and industrial products made today by using fossil fuels. CO2Made means a fossil-fuel-free, carbon-negative alternative to materials from fossil fuels without losing equivalent quality and performance.