Boeing and the Technion move to build jet fuel from green hydrogen and captured CO2

On 26 January 2026 Boeing's global president, Brendan Nelson, visited the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa to mark the next stage of the Boeing-Technion Innovation Center for Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Having completed a feasibility study, the partners announced that the centre would move from theory to practical development, with the aim of producing aviation fuel commercially at a competitive cost. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the centre's head, chemical engineer Gideon Grader of the Technion's Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, told The Times of Israel that Boeing had committed multi-million-dollar support for three years.

Most sustainable aviation fuel today is made from used cooking oil, farm residues or municipal waste, and it costs two to five times as much as conventional jet fuel. The Technion team is instead working on so-called electrofuels, which combine green hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured from the air or industry in a power-to-liquid process. Grader argued that falling prices for green hydrogen should make the approach more viable over time. Eleven Technion faculty members and dozens of doctoral students from five faculties are involved, studying production methods, catalysis, combustion and safety, and the work also explores methanol and related compounds used in the chemicals industry. Within three years the Technion plans to open an experimental fuel-testing facility that Grader said would be only the second of its kind in the world.

Aviation is one of the hardest industries to decarbonise. According to the International Air Transport Association, sustainable fuel made up well under 1 percent of jet fuel used in 2025, far from what is needed for the industry's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Boeing has pledged that its commercial aircraft will be able to fly on 100 percent sustainable fuel by 2030. Technion president Uri Sivan called the partnership a historic collaboration of national importance. At the same visit Boeing also announced a cybersecurity research centre for aviation and aerospace with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.