SAF Takes-off to the Next Level – United’s Bold SAF Commitment, Boeing, Etihad Airways, World Energy’s 50/50 Blend, Gevo’s SAF in Seattle

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December 21, 2020

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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... In today’s Digest, United Airlines ambitious goal by investing in sustainable fuels and new tech – NOT buying carbon offsets – to reduce GHG emissions by 100% by 2050, Gevo’s SAF delivered for the Pacific Northwest region, Boeing, Etihad and World Energy using 50/50 blend on a test flight, and more.

United’s bold SAF commitment

Let’s start with Illinois-based United Airlines who pledged 100% GHG emissions reduction by 2050 by making industry-leading investments in new technology and sustainable fuels – not from buying carbon offsets, which is how several other airlines meet their GHG reduction goals.

United is expected to make a multimillion-dollar investment in revolutionary atmospheric carbon capture technology that is expected to capture and store millions of metric tons of CO2 per year.

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Investment in Direct Air Capture Technology

Rather than simply taking a conventional approach to decarbonization by relying solely on the purchase of carbon offsets, United intends to make a multimillion-dollar investment in 1PointFive, Inc., a partnership between Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental, and Rusheen Capital Management. 1PointFive’s mission is to curb the rise in global temperatures by physically removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air using Direct Air Capture technology licensed from Carbon Engineering.

Direct Air Capture technology is one of the few proven ways to physically correct for aircraft emissions, and can scale to capture millions and potentially billions of metric tons of CO₂per year.

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Investments in Sustainable Aviation Fuel

With up to 80% less lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel, sustainable aviation fuel is the fastest and most effective way United is reducing its emissions. Among all airlines globally, United holds more than 50% of all publicly announced future purchase commitments to using SAF and has the longest history of using SAF of any U.S. airline. Last year, United renewed its contract with Boston-based World Energy, agreeing to purchase up to 10 million gallons of cost-competitive SAF. United has used this SAF to help sustainably power every flight departing its Los Angeles hub since 2016.

Additionally, United has invested more than $30 million in California-based sustainable fuel producer Fulcrum BioEnergy, which remains the single largest investment by any airline globally in a sustainable fuel producer.

Check out “Municipal Solid Waste to Jet Fuel: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Fulcrum” here.

Since 2016, United has used the most SAF of any airline globally and has flown:

26 million passengers on flights powered with a SAF blend
44 billion passenger-miles on flights powered with a SAF blend
215,000 flights powered with a SAF blend

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Boeing, Etihad Airways and World Energy not far behind

Next in the news, we’ve got United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways concluding testing on Boeing’s 2020 ecoDemonstrator programme last week with a cross-country flight using a 50/50 blend of sustainable and traditional jet fuel. Flying from Seattle to Boeing’s manufacturing site in South Carolina, Etihad’s newest 787-10 Dreamliner used the maximum sustainable fuel blend permitted for commercial aviation.

Mohammad Al Bulooki, Etihad Aviation Group Chief Operating Officer, said: “Together with Boeing and the national airline’s sustainable aviation fuel partners World Energy and EPIC, Etihad used 50,000 gallons of a 50/50 blend of sustainable aviation fuel on the final flight of our ecoDemonstrator 787-10 flight tests. This is a monumental step forward for the sector to prove the viability of producing a 50/50 blend of sustainable aviation fuel [SAF] at a high volume, an important moment for the industry.”

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The fuel from World Energy and supplied to Boeing by EPIC Fuels has been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials to reduce carbon emissions by more than 75% over the fuel’s life cycle.

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Gevo’s SAF for Pacific Northwest Region

Last but not least, we have Colorado-based Gevo which supplied SAF to further support carbon neutrality goals in the aviation industry this past week. Gevo’s customer and global fuel supplier, Avfuel Corporation, delivered SAF to Leading Edge Jet Center, a provider of business aviation services throughout the Pacific Northwest, to deliver a demonstrative load of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the fixed-base operator’s (FBO) Seattle facility.

The delivery marks the first load of sustainable aviation fuel for an FBO at the King County International Airport – Boeing Field (BFI) for resale to its customers, as well as Avfuel’s entry to SAF deliveries in Washington state.

“I want to congratulate Avfuel and Leading Edge Jet Center for making progress towards a cleaner future,” stated Patrick Gruber, Chief Executive Officer of Gevo. “We look forward to growing our business relationship and helping to educate aircraft operators and owners that products exist that burn cleaner and reduce carbon emission.”

Check out “Low-Carbon Drop-In Transportation Fuels: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Gevo” here.

Bottom Line

These three SAF news items show us that even in darkness, there is light. SAF is moving the right direction with increasing efforts to get it in the planes. Much like we need the COVID-19 vaccine to get actual “shots in the arms” to get our world to a better place, we also need SAF in the engines to make more sustainable aviation happen. READ MORE

United Airlines commits to reducing GHG emissions 100% by 2050 (Bio-based Diesel Daily)