By Linda Blachly
The world’s airlines are calling on governments to “urgently put in place” large-scale incentives to rapidly expand the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
IATA, which represents almost 300 of the world’s airlines, has set a target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. To fulfill that commitment, IATA says SAF will need to account for 65% of aviation’s carbon mitigation in 2050, which would require an annual production capacity of 449 billion liters of SAF—far greater than the 125 million liters produced annually now.
“Investments are in place to expand SAF annual production from the current 125 million liters to 5 billion by 2025. With effective government incentives, production could reach 30 billion liters by 2030, which would be a tipping point for SAF production and utilization,” IATA stated during a briefing at its AGM in Doha, Qatar, in June. IATA said hydrogen- and electrically powered aircraft are also part of aviation’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, but they are likely to be limited to short-haul routes. “SAF is the proven solution for long-haul flying,” IATA stated. Some major countries, including Australia and China, have yet to develop domestic SAF production plants on any scale, but that is changing. To address the lack of SAF availability in Australia, Qantas and Airbus have entered into an AUD$200 million ($140 million), five-year partnership to expedite production of SAF in Australia by investing in local fuel and feedstock initiatives. The Australian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Partnership was signed by Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. Qantas has committed to using 10% SAF in its overall fuel mix by 2030. Qantas also said it was having “encouraging discussions” with the country’s newly elected government to support a transition of the aviation industry to low carbon fuels. In another first, China’s Sinopec has started production of the country’s first SAF, made from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) derived primarily from cooking oil. The facility at the Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. near Ningpo, Zhejiang Province, is designed to manufacture 100,000 metric tons of unblended biofuel annually, and the state-owned company says its refinery will pave the way toward large-scale production. The Zhenhai refinery has a crude oil-processing capacity of 23 million metric tons. It also produces RP-3 jet fuel for export to Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the US.
New airline SAF partnerships The almost weekly announcements by airlines to purchase or invest in the production of SAF reflect the industry’s commitment to achieving sustainability goals. IATA has estimated that airlines worldwide have entered into roughly $17 billion of forward purchasing agreements for SAF. In the US, Hawaiian Airlines is partnering with energy supply company Par Hawaii Refining to investigate the production of SAF in Hawaii and study the commercial viability of using SAF “to replace all or a percentage of traditional kerosene-based jet fuel with fuel that is made with sustainable feedstocks.” The companies signed an MOU to jointly evaluate the potential conversion of two processing units at a Par Hawaii refinery to renewable fuels, including SAF. The two units being considered for conversion are a relatively new distillate hydrotreater, and a distillate hydrocracker. Chicago-based United Airlines has made another investment in a startup developing a new pathway to producing SAF. The deal with Dimensional Energy includes a commercial agreement to purchase at least 300 million gal. of SAF over 20 years. Dimensional is commercializing a process to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into a synthesis gas (syngas) that can then be used to produce liquid fuels via the Fischer-Tropsch process. Catalysts in Dimensional’s reactors break the CO2 down into carbon monoxide, which is then mixed with hydrogen electrolyzed from water to produce the syngas. Finland’s flag carrier Finnair agreed to take 7 million gal. of SAF annually from Colorado-based renewable fuels producer Gevo, forming part of a wider 200-million-gal. per year commitment by the oneworld alliance. The Finnair-Gevo agreement will start in 2027 and will last for five years, with an estimated total value of $192 million. This joins an existing Finnair agreement to acquire 17.5 million gal. of SAF from Aemetis, which will be delivered in 2025-2032. In the UK, International Airlines Group cargo unit, IAG Cargo, has partnered with Bollore Logistics to purchase 1 million liters of SAF, which will be manufactured at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in North Lincolnshire UK from sustainable waste feedstocks. It will be delivered in two shipments, in July 2022 and November 2022, and is expected to reduce approximately 2,400 tonnes of CO2 on a net lifecycle basis.
First SAF test flights More airline partnerships are already culminating in first test flights using SAF. Regional aircraft manufacturer ATR, Swedish airline Braathens Regional Airlines and SAF fuel producer Neste collaborated to enable the first-ever 100% SAF-powered test flight in two engines on a commercial regional aircraft. The historic test flight took place in Sweden and is part of the 100% SAF certification process of ATR aircraft that started in September 2021. Mexican ULCC Viva Aerobus completed its first flight powered by SAF in June, on a three-hour Airbus A320 flight. The aircraft flew over 1,300 miles, transported 186 passengers and consumed 7,200 liters (1,902 gal.) of fuel, of which 2,520 liters was SAF, provided by Finnish company Neste. Viva Aerobus said this was the first of several green flights as part of an agreement with Neste to purchase 1 million liters of SAF. Viva Aerobus also unveiled its environmentally branded Airbus A321, which will be ready in the coming months and will operate over 2,000 flights yearly.
OEM trials & partnerships There are also numerous projects and commitments in countries around the globe to develop SAF as OEMs and airlines work with energy suppliers on green projects and tests. Airbus has partnered with energy supplier Uniper, Siemens Energy and sustainable fuels company Sasol EcoFT to launch the Green Fuels Hamburg project to produce power-to-liquid synthetic e-kerosene on a commercial scale in Germany. In its initial configuration, Green Fuels Hamburg is planned to produce at least 10,000 metric tons (3.3 million gal.) a year of power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel (PtL SAF) from 2026. This amounts to 20% of the e-kerosene fuel required by the German government in its PtL road map for SAF blends. The consortium plans to build an electrolysis plant in Hamburg to produce green hydrogen using offshore wind power. This will be coupled with on-site production of carbon-neutral SAF using the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce PtL using the green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. The project is supported by the Technical University of Hamburg as its research partner, the Hamburg government and Hamburg Airport. Dubai-based Emirates Airline has indicated its interest in acting as a customer for PtL-SAF produced by Green Fuels Hamburg, along with Airbus’s Hamburg operations and Hamburg Airport.
Embraer and Pratt & Whitney completed testing on a GTF-powered Embraer E195-E2 using 100% SAF. The test, with one engine running on 100% SAF, validated that GTF engines and the E-Jets E2 family can fly on both engines with blends of up to 100% SAF without any compromise to safety or performance. The aircraft completed two days of ground tests at US-based Fort Lauderdale International Airport, culminating in a 70-min. flight test at Vero Beach Regional Airport in Florida. The SAF used by Embraer and P&W was 100% hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids synthetic paraffinic kerosine (HEFA-SPK) acquired from World Energy. HEFA-SPK is a specific type of hydrotreated renewable feedstock fuel used in aviation and is considered a leading alternative replacement for conventional jet fuel by the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), due to the sustainability of its feedstock. Boeing is modifying a 777-200ER into a testbed for 30 new technologies in the latest campaign of the US-based OEM’s 10-year-long ecoDemonstrator evaluation program. The former Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand-operated 777 is the ninth aircraft to be used for the ecoDemonstrator initiative, which began in 2012. Unlike previous campaigns in which aircraft were used in the role for a relatively short period of several months, Boeing will use the 777 as a technology testbed for the next three years.
Airports getting greener Greener airports are also part of aviation’s sustainability objectives as OEMs and airport operators work together. Toulouse-based Airbus has two new partnerships: One with industrial gases and engineering company Linde and one with Japan’s Kansai Airports.
Airbus’s MOU with Linde is to work on the development of hydrogen infrastructure at airports worldwide. The agreement follows a cooperation agreement signed in Singapore in February and covers collaboration on global supply chains for hydrogen, from production to airport storage, including the integration of refueling into normal ground handling operations. Both companies will define and launch pilot projects at several airports from early 2023 onward. In addition, Airbus and Linde will analyze the potential of power-to-liquid fuels—a type of SAF made from the synthetically produced liquid hydrocarbon through the conversion of renewable electricity. Airbus and Japan’s Kansai Airports will explore the use of hydrogen fuel at Kansai International, Osaka International and Kobe airports. The study aims to identify infrastructure requirements, challenges or other aircraft and operational related data to define an advocacy plan for hydrogen needs. The agreement follows another similar MOU Airbus signed with Kawasaki Heavy Industries in April, which will look into the greater supply chain requirements and the building of potential supporting infrastructures. Anticipating the arrival of hydrogen-powered airliners in 2035, Paris airports operator Groupe ADP and industrial gas supplier Air Liquide signed an MOU to create a 50:50 engineering JV to help develop hydrogen infrastructure at airports. The agreement follows a year-long feasibility study of 30 airports worldwide, with a focus on Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly, which confirmed the potential of hydrogen to decarbonize aviation.
Airbus and industrial gases and engineering company Linde signed an MOU to work on the development of hydrogen infrastructure at airports worldwide. Credit: Airbus
Electric- and hydrogen-powered aircraft Electric- and hydrogen-powered planes are also beginning to see government support. The European Commission launched the Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation to prepare the aviation ecosystem for the entry into service of electric- and hydrogen-powered aircraft. The alliance aims to bring together manufacturers, airlines, energy companies and fuel providers, standards organizations and certification authorities, as well as passenger and environmental interest groups to identify the barriers to entry into service of zero-emission aircraft. The members will look at issues such as the fuel and infrastructure requirements for electric and hydrogen aircraft at airports. The first meeting of the general assembly is planned for autumn. The Netherlands’ government has backed a Dutch consortium’s plan to develop a hydrogen-electric propulsion system for retrofit into 40- to 80-seat regional turboprops. The consortium aims to have aircraft ready to fly routes between the Netherlands and London in 2028. Led by consultancy United International and regional economic development agency InnovationQuarter, the Hydrogen Aircraft Powertrain and Storage Systems program is a public-private partnership involving 17 companies, the Netherlands’ government and the Royal Dutch Aerospace Center, NLR. Other hydrogen-electric projects include collaborations and startups, such as the UK’s Cranfield Aerospace Solutions plans to collaborate with German airline startup Evia Aero to launch hydrogen-electric-powered air services in Northern Europe. Cranfield is developing a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain conversion for the nine-passenger Britten-Norman Islander. Bremen-based Evia Aero plans to launch short-range, point-to-point regional service using small zero-emission aircraft. Queensland, Australia-based regional airline Skytrans has partnered with local startup Stralis Aircraft to convert a 19-seat Beech 1900D turboprop to hydrogen-electric propulsion for flight trials in 2025. Skytrans operates Cessna Grand Caravans and De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100s. Founded in 2021, Stralis is aiming to certify the retrofitted Beech 1900D0-HE for entry into service in 2026. The converted aircraft will have 15 seats and a range of 800 km (430 nm) on liquid hydrogen. The 1900D’s two Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprops will be replaced by two 955-kW electric motors. Stralis aims to obtain supplemental type certification of the retrofit with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Agency and FAA.
