Adding Thrust to Ethanol-Based SAF

by Luke Geiver (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Policy makers are incentivizing sustainable aviation fuel across the globe. Airlines are eagerly signing offtakes and taking every drop they can get. With other feedstocks in tight supply, ethanol-based SAF production is ready to soar. ... From the world’s top airlines to the highest-GDP countries, the race to get more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is in the air—and ethanol is on board.

Although SAF was making headlines well before the landmark U.S. Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law this past August, the bill provided immediate amplification to the biobased jet fuel movement.

In mid-2021, the European Union passed its own version of the IRA, including robust SAF incentives and firm targets. Through the EU’s “Fit for 55” package, the share of sustainable fuels at EU airports will increase from a minimum of 2 percent in 2025 to at least 63 percent by 2050.

Back in the U.S., just a few months after the passage of Fit for 55, the U.S. Department of Energy rolled out its SAF Grand Challenge to meet 100 percent of U.S. aviation fuel demand with sustainable, low-carbon fuel—also by 2050.

In September, when the U.S. DOE released an updated roadmap for the SAF Grand Challenge, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that not only is the initiative critical to decarbonizing the airline industry and reaching U.S. climate goals, but helping “American companies corner the market on a valuable emerging industry.”

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a leading aviation group recognized across the world, has started tracking and publishing the rise of SAF offtake agreements on its website. The numbers explain it all. In 2013, ICAO showed there was only one offtake agreement by a major airline with an SAF provider. In 2016, the agreement trends show a discernible spike, reaching six agreements. But then in 2021 and 2022, offtake agreement signings for SAF have been nothing but wheels up. Last year, there were 23 offtake agreements announced. This year, there have already been 30.

What Airlines Think About SAF
The International Air Transport Association is a trade association for the world’s airlines. With 290 airlines represented, the IATA member list accounts for 83 percent of total air traffic. “We support many areas of aviation activity and help formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues,” Sebastian Mikosz, senior vice president for environment and sustainability, tells Ethanol Producer Magazine.

The scale of the aviation industry in 2050 will require the mitigation of 1.8 gigatons of carbon. IATA knows that. The association believes that roughly 65 percent of that carbon will be abated through sustainable aviation fuels. Hydrogen-based new propulsion technology may account for another 13 percent; efficiency improvements will help at 3 percent; and the remaining 19 percent will be handled through carbon capture and storage (11 percent) and/or offsets (8 percent).

IATA is also stressing that SAF isn’t a new or novel product. “SAF has been in use for several years, with more than 450,000 flights powered by a combination of SAF and conventional fuel already having occurred.”

The association also believes that by 2025, the number of SAF producing facilities will jump dramatically in the next eight years. Although IATA describes the number of operating facilities involved with SAF this year as a “handful,” there will be nearly 100 by 2025. By 2030, there will be several hundred. Volumes of SAF produced and used by 2030 could reach at least 7.4 billion gallons. READ MORE