Taking to the Skies

(Biofuels International) ... bp believes that producing SAF through co-processing at existing refineries will help the aviation sector as it transitions to a low-carbon industry and builds dedicated and more efficient standalone units for SAF production.

Today, existing refineries can be used to co-process 5% approved renewable feedstocks alongside the crude oil streams to meet the requirements of the industry jet fuel standard ASTM D1655.

bp’s Lingen refinery in Germany is already being used to produce SAF through co-processing.

Alternatively, SAF2 produced in standalone units (which are not currently widely available) would meet ASTM D7566 - the standard specification for aviation turbine fuel containing synthesised hydrocarbons.

This is then blended with up to 50% conventional jet fuel and certified as ASTM D1655. Encouragingly, ASTM is also supporting the development of specifications for 100% SAF.

The advantage of co-processing is that it does not require the significant financial investment and time that comes with building a new standalone facility.

Relatively minor modifications are required to enable the production of SAF through co-processing while new plants get up and running.

Additionally, these facilities potentially have greater flexibility in feedstocks for the coming years of energy transition, being able to switch between co-processing and the traditional processing of crude oil to meet fluctuations in demand.

SAF produced through co-processing on the other hand, only contains up to 5% renewable feedstocks.
This highlights the importance of solutions such as mass balancing and book and claim systems that give customers greater access to the low carbon benefits of SAF produced through co-processing.
The latter enables customers to access the benefits of SAF without being physically connected to the supply site and high volumes of conventional jet fuel (blended with SAF) do not have to be transported in inefficient ways.
Success of the proposed 30% co-processing approval would clearly benefit all.
Another challenge fuel suppliers face is that to qualify for tax credits and other financial incentives some jurisdictions require measurement of the renewable carbon content in aviation fuel, using third party verification through C-14 testing.
This test is for carbon from recently living sources such as plants and animals. However, with the range of renewable feedstocks continually evolving C-14 is not an effective test method for all possibilities, for example with municipal solid waste.

Standalone units will also be required to ramp up production. Building on its refinery footprint in the near-term future, bp anticipates investing in five major biofuels projects, including three adjacent to existing refineries and the conversion of up to two biorefineries.

References
1 ATAG Waypoint 2050 report: atag.org/our-publications/latest-publications.html
2 SAF produced in a standalone unit is technically known as a synthetic blend component (SBC) or synthesized kerosene (SK)
3 McKinsey Energy Insights: mckinseyenergyinsights.com/resources/refinery-reference-desk/refining/
4 Airlines for America report: airlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/jet-fuel-1.pdf READ MORE