Airlines Are Eager to Embrace Sustainable Aviation Fuel for Cleaner Skies

Airlines are enthusiastically embracing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as part of their commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which currently contribute 2.5-3.5% to global greenhouse gas emissions, as reported by Our World in Data¹. While already implementing measures like improved routing and aircraft design to minimize their carbon footprint, airlines are eagerly awaiting the availability of sufficient SAF to power their planes.

SAF holds significant promise for reducing carbon footprint for several reasons. First, its production often requires fewer resources, resulting in a lower carbon footprint. In fact, some SAF solutions can be produced in a way that is carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative. Additionally, SAF typically emits less CO₂ and other pollutants, further enhancing its environmental benefits.

The potential of SAF has garnered high-level attention, with US President Joe Biden setting ambitious targets to produce SAF in the United States: 3 billion gallons by 2030 and 35 billion gallons by 2050. This ambitious goal underscores the significance of the SAF industry.

As many airlines have signed advance purchase agreements for future SAF volumes, key players such as Neste and World Energy are undergoing substantial expansions to ramp up SAF production. Neste's global Renewable Aviation business is set to significantly increase its production capacity. By modifying its biofuel refinery in the Netherlands, the company will be able to produce over 1.8 billion liters of SAF in 2024, up from its current capacity of 1.3 billion liters at its plants in Finland and Singapore. Meanwhile, World Energy's plant in Southern California is undergoing an expansion that's halfway finished. This expansion will increase their capacity from 270 million liters per year to more than 950 million liters by late 2026.

Discover recent advancements in SAF research from ACS journals

Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Sustainable Aviation Fuel through a Net-Zero Carbon Biofuel Plant Design
Eunji Yoo*, Uisung Lee, and Michael Wang
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c00977

Volatility Measurements of Sustainable Aviation Fuels: A Comparative Study of D86 and D2887 Methods
Zhibin Yang*, David C. Bell, Dylan J. Cronin*, Randall Boehm, Joshua Heyne, and Karthikeyan K. Ramasamy
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c00678

Life-Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Aviation Fuel Derived from Paper Sludge
Kai Lan, David Cruz, Jinyue Li, Amma Asantewaa Agyei Boakye, Hyeonji Park, Phoenix Tiller, Ashutosh Mittal, David K. Johnson, Sunkyu Park, and Yuan Yao*
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c00795

High-Resolution Lipidomics Reveals Influence of Biomass and Pretreatment Process on the Composition of Extracted Algae Oils As Feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuels
Steven M. Rowland, Stefanie Van Wychen, Tao Dong, Roger Leach, and Lieve M. L. Laurens*
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c04857

Techno-Economic Assessment of Electromicrobial Production of n-Butanol from Air-Captured CO₂
Jeremy David Adams and Douglas S. Clark*
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c08748

Sustainable Aviation Fuels for Clean Skies: Exploring the Potential and Perspectives of Strained Hydrocarbons
Feng Wang* and Dilip Rijal
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c04935

Effect of the Preparation Methods on the Physicochemical Properties of Indium-Based Catalysts and Their Catalytic Performance for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Methanol
Phuoc Hoang Ho, Giovanni Tizzanini, Sreetama Ghosh, Wei Di, Jieling Shao, Oleg Pajalic, Lars Josefsson, Patricia Benito*, Derek Creaser, and Louise Olsson*
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c04721

Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel by Hydrocracking of n-Heptadecane Using Pt-Supported Y-Zeolite-Al₂O₃ Composite Catalysts
Shunma Mitsuoka, Kosuke Murata, Tadanori Hashimoto, Ning Chen, Yuki Jonoo, Sho Kawabe, Keita Nakao, and Atsushi Ishihara*
DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c07678

References

1. What share of global CO₂ emissions come from aviation? https://ourworldindata.org/global-aviation-emissions