Advanced BioFuels USA

by Laís Forti Thomaz and Amanda Gondim (Estadão/neg.fcs.ufg.br/ (Google Translation)) In an article in Estadão, researchers from RBQAV state that Brazil needs to seek international partnerships to fulfill the agreement  — The global targets for emission reductions have stimulated the development of fuels from sustainable, residual and low-cost raw materials, also seeking energy security through universalized access through a diversified and clean matrix, which reconcile its expansion on a sustainable, renewable and low greenhouse gas (GHG) basis. 

The 2015 Paris Agreement inspired the creation of the “International Aviation Emissions Reduction and Offsetting Mechanism” (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation – CORSIA) in order to mitigate the effects of climate change using alternative fuels to fossil fuels. CORSIA was created in 2016 after decades of negotiations coordinated by the UN Agency in the aviation sector known as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The CORSIA target basically foresees that emissions stabilize at the levels that would initially be observed in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the absolute emissions of 2019 will also be used in the year 2020, replacing the registered emissions this year, with the purpose of amortizing the drop in air traffic during this period. 

Aircraft operators are encouraged to use CORSIA Eligible Fuels (CEF) which are certified by a Sustainability Certification Scheme (SCS) approved by the ICAO Council. These fuels must achieve GHG emission reductions on a life-cycle basis; respect areas of high importance for biodiversity, conservation and benefits to people of ecosystems, in accordance with national and international regulations; and contribute to local social and economic development, and should avoid competition between raw materials used with food. If companies do not use SAFs, they must buy carbon credits in the offset market.

CORSIA is the first market mechanism for environmental compensation, dedicated only to international flights, and expected to operate in three phases during 2021 and 2035. 

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However, it is still necessary that in the governmental sphere, incentives are sought to neutralize the difference in the production cost of a “drop-in” fuel in relation to a product for engines adapted to biofuels, as is the case of road transport. This is because in aviation the fuel must be “drop-in”, that is, they are liquid bio hydrocarbons (renewable hydrocarbons), which have functionality equivalent to fossil fuels and are compatible with the existing infrastructure, that is, the fuel must be free of oxygenated compounds, have high calorific power and low water solubility (Speight, 2006). In this way, they can be mixed with aviation kerosene or diesel of fossil origin in regulated proportions, without the need for changes to existing engines, aircraft and distribution infrastructure.

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At first, Brazil will only participate in CORSIA in 2027, in the mandatory phase, even though it already has an ANAC resolution (496/2018 amended by 558/2020) that regulates the monitoring, sending of reports and the verification of emission data.

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Brazil has already had previous initiatives to seek to leverage production in the sector, seeking support from other countries in energy dialogue forums, for example. There was financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), together with Boeing and Embraer, for the sustainability analysis of the sugarcane aviation biofuel by Amyris (IADB, 2011) . In addition, more than 360 demonstration flights were carried out by GOL airlines at the Rio+20 and even during the Olympics and the World Cup in Brazil, as well as Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras with aviation biokerosene, which named its flight “ Blue+Green”.

However, the sector was not able to overcome the market barriers for the production of aviation biokerosene on a large scale.

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On the internal agenda, there are some specific initiatives to stimulate the development of the sector: (1) the recently launched Fuel of the Future Program by the resolution of the National Energy Policy Council, which provides for the creation of the Technical Committee of the Fuel of the Future (CT-CF), which will be composed of fifteen bodies and coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the introduction of aviation biokerosene in the country’s transport matrix and for an integrated policy of this biofuel with diesel and green naphtha and the creation of the ProBioQAV Committee ; (2) the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan in Renewable Energies and Biofuels(2018-2022) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), with the goal of consolidating the Brazilian Network of Biokerosene and Renewable Hydrocarbons for Aviation ( RBQAV ) coordinated by the Secretariat of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SEMPI/ MCTI) in partnership with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) with support from other universities involved; (3) advances in the processing of PL 9321/2017 that creates the National Biokerosene Program. Such initiatives reinforce this biofuels agenda – also built by RenovaBio since 2017 – in which solutions can be sought for these logistical, distribution, taxation and price bottlenecks, in order to make renewable hydrocarbons viable. 

A recent study released by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) states that the country has the potential to produce 9 billion liters of biokerosene from waste.   READ MORE