Diesel powers a large share of the world’s remote grids, industrial sites, and ground transportation. AIRMADE® Diesel is AIRCO’s synthetic alternative: a diesel fuel made by converting captured carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) directly into hydrocarbons, giving operators access to the same fuel they already run on, produced through a fundamentally different process than that of traditional diesel fuel. Through its numerous advantages, synthetic diesel fuel stands to play a meaningful role in a more distributed, lower-carbon energy future.
What Is Synthetic Diesel Fuel?
Synthetic diesel fuel is a diesel fuel. Once it’s in an engine, it behaves the same way as conventional diesel, with the same combustion process and the same power output, and requires no equipment modifications. The most consistent difference observed in real-world testing, of AIRMADE® Diesel specifically, is less visible exhaust smoke, which indicates a cleaner burn.
How Synthetic Diesel Fuel Is Produced
Our synthetic diesel, known as AIRMADE® Diesel, is currently a co-product of our AIRMADE® SAF production, rather than through a standalone diesel process.
AIRMADE® SAF production runs on our core carbon conversion technology (AIRMADE™ Technology), in which captured CO2 and H2 are converted into hydrocarbons through a single-step CO2-to-hydrocarbons process. The method differs from the multi-step Fischer-Tropsch approach most other e-fuel producers rely on, which requires a separate reverse water-gas-shift (RWGS) reaction before synthesis can even begin.
Our streamlined process currently follows these steps:
- CO2 and H2 are converted through our catalytic carbon-to-fuel process.
- The resulting hydrocarbons are captured and refined for diesel applications.
- Diesel is produced alongside SAF at our manufacturing hub in Pennsylvania.
This will change in the future as we have identified a pathway to evolve this co-product into a dedicated diesel technology through further catalyst and process optimization, rather than relying solely on the SAF byproduct stream.
Applications for Synthetic Diesel Fuel
AIRMADE® Diesel is designed for distributed energy systems. This means it doesn’t have to be trucked or shipped in from a centralized refinery. The model is most valuable in the places diesel is hardest to deliver: contested military environments, remote job sites, islands, and disaster relief zones. Our synthetic diesel has already moved past the concept stage, with field demonstrations across land and maritime defense operations that showed performance comparable to conventional diesel.
The need for on-site production is as much a logistics story as a climate one. In remote or contested regions, delivering conventional diesel or jet fuel can cost $100 to $400 per gallon once transport, protection, and storage are factored in, which is one reason the Pentagon has identified on-site fuel production as a strategic priority. At the same time, the market opportunity behind carbon-derived fuels like AIRMADE® Diesel is substantial. CO2-derived products could reach an estimated $1 trillion in annual sales by 2050, with the potential to offset roughly 15% of current global emissions.
Ground Vehicles and Tactical Operations
AIRCO tested AIRMADE® Fuel in a Polaris MRZR tactical vehicle at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, as part of the Defense Innovation Unit's Project SynCE. The vehicle matched the performance of fossil diesel, while producing less visible exhaust smoke. The demonstration capped a study on integrating AIRMADE® Fuel production into an Army nuclear reactor energy hub, part of an effort to bring nuclear reactor operations back to the Department of the Army for the first time in 50 years.
Maritime Vessels
AIRCO's synthetic diesel has also completed two maritime tests. A 5.1-meter SeaFox II rigid-hull inflatable boat ran on the fuel for more than six hours during the Naval Postgraduate School's JIFX program. Separately, a 7.0-meter, 300-horsepower Zodiac RHIB was tested at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, matching the speed and acceleration performance of a conventional diesel. Both tests showed significantly less exhaust smoke.
Distributed Energy and Industrial Use
Extending beyond mobility, AIRMADE® Diesel is built to support the same applications that rely on diesel today, such as remote and island power systems, industrial and mining operations, construction and heavy equipment, and microgrids that generate power on-site rather than drawing from a centralized grid. It can help fuel generators that power data centers, and it can also be used for generators during disaster relief. These use cases are some of the target deployments for our MAD Fuel System™, which is designed to produce fuel wherever it's needed, rather than relying on a supply chain that must reach that location first.
Explore AIRMADE® Diesel
AIRMADE® Diesel is one output of a broader technology platform, AIRMADE Technology, that also produces synthetic aviation fuel and other carbon-based fuels and chemicals, all built on the same core catalytic conversion process. Our platform has been developed and tested alongside partners including the U.S. Department of War (DoW), the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), NASA, and the National Science Foundation; aviation partners such as Air France KLM, JetBlue, and Virgin Atlantic; and investors including In-Q-Tel and Toyota Ventures. As our solutions continue to mature, now is a good time to start the conversation.
Connect with our team to explore AIRMADE® Diesel for your specific application.
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