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Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been hailed as the best near-term solution for the aviation industry to achieve its green goals — providing about 65% of the mitigation needed for airlines to reach net zero emissions by 2050, according to a new report published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The report predicts that SAF production will triple this year to 1.9 bn liters or 0.53% of aviation’s fuel needs — but how is our region faring in the switch to SAF and what’s holding us back?
REFRESHER- SAF is an alternative fuel made from non-petroleum feedstocks — raw materials or biomass other than the traditional crude oil — that is chemically and physically identical to conventional jet fuel, according to a previous IATA report (pdf). Since it is a drop-in fuel — meaning it can be used in the existing fuel systems — SAF bypasses concerns of incompatibility with existing fuelling infrastructure and can be blended at levels between 10-15%. The feedstocks used to create SAF can vary from cooking oil, waste, and plant oil with more possibilities being developed.
Lots of gains ahead: SAF can greatly reduce air transportation emissions by up to 94% during its life cycle compared to standard aviation fuel depending on the feedstock and technology used, says the US Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC). SAF can also attract private sector investment, create jobs, and promote economic growth, CEO of International Airlines Group Luis Gallego wrote in an article for the Financial Times.
Tackling a high polluter: Aviation accounts for 2% of worldwide CO2 emissions and 12% of emissions from transportation, the AFDC added. In recent decades, aviation emissions have grown faster than those of rail, road, and shipping, according to the International Energy Agency.
A global push is happening: Multiple federal agencies came together in 2021 to announce The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to expand domestic consumption of SAF to 3 bn gallons in 2030 and 35 bn gallons in 2050 to reduce life cycle emissions by 50%. Governments similarly came together through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to set a target of 5% international aviation emissions reduction by 2030 up from the current 3%. In the EU, all airports will be required to use SAF blends at a minimum of 2% by 2025 to be increased to 70% by 2050, the Financial Times reported. Public support for SAF is also high, with 86% of travelers in favor of government incentives and prioritization by oil companies.
Some players are already jumping on the bandwagon: Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial airline to fly a transatlantic flight fully powered by SAF last month. Airbus and Boeing committed to having their planes be exclusively powered by SAF by 2030. The demand for SAF is highest in Europe due to the threat of fines, but production would be the most efficient in the US and other cheaper energy producing countries, Roland Bereger’s global lead for sustainable aviation Nikhil Sachdeva told FT.
The region has been active: Omani OQ Group’s green unit OQ Alternative Energy signed two agreements to explore developing e-fuels for technical and commercial viability in Oman on Saturday. Emirates Airline recently purchased over 3k tons of SAF from Shell Aviation at the London Heathrow Airport to fuel some of its flights until the end of the summer. In partnership with Finnish oil refining company Neste, the airline also began supplying over 2 mn gallons of SAF — including 1 mn gallons of pure SAF — for its flights departing from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport throughout this year with plans to introduce the alternative fuel to Singapore Changi Airport in the coming months.
That’s not all for the Emirates: Dubai Municipality signed an agreement with UAE turbine and aviation fuel supplier Enoc Marketing, Belgium’s Besix, and Japan’s Marubeni Middle East and Africa Power to produce SAF from solid municipal waste, organic waste, and green hydrogen from sewage treatment back in February. Enoc also signed an MoU with Neste to explore avenues for the purchase and supply of sustainable aviation fuels both in the UAE and the wider MENA region back in November 2023. The UAE has set a goal under its National Policy on Biofuels to produce 700 mn liters of SAF and reach net zero by 2050.
Egypt’s making moves of its own: US multinational conglomerate Honeywell in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it will complete a feasibility study over the months following March for a proposed sustainable aviation fuel production facility in Egypt. Egypt said the SAF studies had begun earlier this month to implement Egypt’s first SAF project using used cooking oil.
What’s getting in the way of larger adoption? Despite its promising nature, SAF still only makes up less than 0.1% of global jet fuel volumes and is three times as expensive, FT added. There are several reasons for this — for one, it’s hard to convince investors to back alternative fuel projects because their time horizons are long (20-25 years) but airlines typically avoid offtake agreements that are longer than 10 years, Sachdeva added. Potential stakeholders in the UK blame the government for not giving sufficient support that would give them the green light to start building SAF plants. Other obstacles include low production capacity, infrastructure for production, transportation, and storage needing development, and the lack of a regulatory standard making the industry notoriously difficult to decarbonize, CEO of Fathopes Energy Vinesh Sinha said.
Next steps: Updated policies are necessary to boost SAF production. Governments can support SAF by diversifying feedstocks, co-processing renewable feedstocks in existing refineries, incentivizing the shift from diesel to SAF production, and boosting investments in renewable fuel production, the IATA states. Achieving the ICAO’s goal will require about 27% of renewable fuel production capacity to be SAF.
Plans might shift in the long-term: Hydrogen and electric-powered aircrafts are also touted as key technological advancements to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, but there is a long way to go before they become commercially viable, according to FT. SAF is the more viable near-term solution, but there are hopes to create synthetic SAF by combining carbon dioxide from the air with green hydrogen in the long term.
