Rolls-Royce has entered a landmark agreement with energy company
Zero Petroleum, a world leader in developing carbon neutral liquid fuels made from just air and water, to promote further development of the company’s power and propulsion solutions with fossil-free synthetic fuels. The new agreement will see them collaborate to demonstrate Rolls-Royce engines for aviation, marine and defence with ‘Zero’ synthetic fuels.
Dave Gordon, Rolls-Royce senior vice president - UK Defence, said: “This has the potential to include Zero’s entire range of synthetic fuels – petrol, diesel and jet fuel – with data gathered from engine testing used to prove the credentials required to achieve international fuel certification standards. Synthetic fuels deployed by Rolls-Royce in engine tests will directly reduce associated carbon emissions.
Zero CEO Paddy Lowe said: “Rolls-Royce’s gas turbine technology is a critical strategic national capability and synthetic fuel is at the heart of how we can continue to support the warfighter in delivering military advantage. Zero is at the cutting-edge of the synthetic fuel industry and we have been extremely impressed by its rapid progress in the short time they have been in existence; we are confident its team can continue that impressive trajectory. We look forward to a long partnership between Rolls-Royce and Zero to develop and demonstrate the future of sustainable energy across our wide range of complex power and propulsion solutions as we leave the fossil fuel era behind us.”
We are thrilled to be working with one of the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking engineering companies in a combined quest to accelerate the energy transition. The world is facing increasingly urgent demands for fossil fuel alternatives and it is vital for all companies to develop the solutions to achieve this. We could not consider a better engine partner than Rolls-Royce with whom to meet this challenge head-on.
“We have proven the genuine capabilities of our fuels in a wide variety of vehicles – including a light aircraft, a supercar and a chainsaw. As we move towards full certification of our fuels, we are starting to put in place the commercial realisation of these demonstrations and aim to be running our first large-scale production plant two years from now.”