Renewable fuels
Welcome to SAF Gen2
The second generation of sustainable aviation fuels promises lower costs, greater flexibility and much wider availability than first generation renewable fuels. Here we quiz nine leading insiders – representing fuel suppliers, sustainability experts, trade associations, aircraft manufacturers – about what benefits we can expect and when. Words by Conor Feasey, Megan Kelly and Yves Le Marqand.
Choose a company to view below, or free-scroll to view them all in order
AEG Fuels
Avfuel
National Air Transport Association
Air bp
Bombardier
Neste
Alder Fuels
4AIR
Renewable fuels expert
AEG Fuels: ‘Next gen will bring competitive pricing’
Stephen T Leonard, Manager, Sales and Operations, AEG Fuels
THE NEXT GENERATION of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) needs to be more cost-efficient if it is to rival jet fuel. Increasing accessibility to up demand and create more competition could help in driving down the price.
“The price of SAF will never escape the conversation, but that’s how markets work,” Stephen T Leonard, manager, Sales and Operations, AEG Fuels tells Corporate Jet Investor (CJI). He believes that as demand and supply of SAF scales up, the price of SAF will fall. “When you look at sustainable feedstocks to scale, they can compete [on price] with conventional carbon-based fuels or fossil fuel based feedstocks,” says Leonard, “but you need government regulation to bring incentives along the way and subsidise it.”
“Right now, we are in the early adopters’ stage [with SAF first generation],” agrees Marc Ramthun, director of sales, Business Aviation, AEG Fuels. “We have high barriers to entry and we have a high cost of manufacturing because it’s not done to scale.”
Creating more competition between SAF producers and sellers will lower costs while we wait for government incentives. To do this, buyers and operators need to know the options available to them when sourcing their next-gen SAF. Tasking themselves with spurring this on, AEG Fuels recently launched its Global SAF Network which allows aircraft operators to access SAF at more than 20 locations worldwide. Leonard says that the next generation of SAF will involve the creation of transparent, accessible networks like this one, which will help end users find SAF more easily, increase competition regionally, and create price drops.
“If you look at what our platform is doing now, we’re able, for the first time that I know of, to say that SAF is available at LAX Airport and SFO Airport,” Leonard says. “We have immediately created competition in some capacity around SAF pricing, because if you are an end user and you have two airports that are of comparable distance, now you can make a choice based on price. That choice wasn’t there for customers before.”
Leonard adds that when competitively marketing second generation SAF, it’s important to distinguish that it’s simply the next phase of the same product which will be higher in quality and have more benefits. “It’s still SAF,” he says. “The product’s not changing, but the quality control environment is.”
Of course, to create competition, there needs to be demand in the next-gen product. Leonard and Ramthun believe it’s already there. “I think more and more corporate operators are going to hear from their customers that they want to be ahead of the curve on sustainability,” says Leonard. He believes that as more environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) mandates and requirements roll out, this will increase further.
“A lot of customers are interested, a lot of the market is interested. It’s a hot topic,” agrees Ramthun. He says that the main barrier stopping operators from purchasing SAF was that “people didn’t know how to get it, they didn’t know where to go”.
Both Ramthun and Leonard think that unlocking the benefits of increasing supply depends on ensuring greater accessibility and carrying out transactions in a smarter way.
“The way that our industry has evolved to purchase jet fuel is quite sophisticated and technology driven,” says Leonard. “As we built our first generation SAF as an industry, we kind of forgot to make those same investments along the way. We’ve been so focused on securing supply and destinations that the SAF gets there and there’s no visibility that it’s there.”
AEG Fuels believes its SAF platform will help solve this problem. “We’ve simplified that,” Ramthun says. “I think this is probably one of the single biggest things to help the adoption of SAF in the business aviation industry.”
Air bp
A WIDE RANGE OF criteria must be met in order to ensure the feedstock is truly sustainable, according to Sven Rieve, sustainability adviser, Air bp – not doing so completely defeats the purpose. These include minimal impact on food production, appropriate use of land, water and maintaining biodiversity as well as transportation.
“The carbon dioxide balance is also considered as energy is required to manufacture SAF and this can reduce the overall benefit. A feedstock’s sustainability can be certified by a certification body such as ISCC or RSB,” Rieve tells Corporate Jet Investor (CJI).
Lifecycle carbon emissions are calculated by netting off any carbon removed from the atmosphere by the sustainable feedstocks against the carbon emitted over the lifecycle, one example is when SAF is produced or burnt in the aircraft. “SAF produced through each of the different technology pathways will have its specific lifecycle carbon emissions savings,” adds Rieve.
In Air bp’s experience, almost all SAF available today is HEFA (Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids), derived from vegetable oils, waste oils, or fats. But in the future more sources will come online as production technology develops, says Rieve. “For example, SAF can be produced from solid municipal waste, agricultural and forestry waste, through alcohol to jet and eSAF, synthetic fuel derived from renewable energy.”
SAF produced from HEFA uses fungible feedstock, scalable technology, is capital light and offers back integration to refineries. However, it is limited as a feedstock and other sources will be required to meet SAF demand in the medium to long term, according to Rieve.
The other technologies all have their specific strengths and challenges too. Rieve anticipates that the next generation of SAF will come online from somewhere between 2025-2030.
“For example, an opportunity with municipal solid waste [MSW] is its negative feedstock cost,” he says. Alcohol can be converted to jet fuel using existing ethanol capacity and capital light processes. “However, challenges remain in areas such as ensuring feedstocks are sustainable and also in ensuring commercial competitiveness.” he says.
Other feedstocks are likely to include forestry and agricultural waste, ethanol and green hydrogen and carbon dioxide. “Crucially, Air bp recognises the importance of avoiding using land that would normally be used for growing food crops for growing aviation biofuels,” says Rieve.
Sven Rieve, Sustainability adviser, Air bp
Alder Fuels: ‘The potential is enormous’
BIOFUELS WILL FORM the next generation of SAF, according to Bryan Sherbacow, CEO and chairperson, Alder Fuels. Using its own biofuel dubbed ‘greencrude’, the company focuses its technologies on using low-cost biomass and energy crops into a green crude oil. This in turn is suitable for conversion to SAF in the refinery industry with existing equipment and infrastructure.
“Our research shows that ready access to these materials could help to replace significant volumes of petroleum jet fuel with SAF globally,” Sherbacow tells CJI. “They also require far less freshwater to cultivate than alternative sources and result in no deforestation.”
Biofuels, such as those produced by Alder Fuels, derive from biomass sources such as regenerative energy grasses like miscanthus and agricultural residues such as sugarcane bagasse. It also uses sustainably harvested forestry byproducts.
Previously, biofuels would typically need to be blended with fossil fuel-based Jet A or Jet A-1 in order to be used as jet fuel. But with the next-gen of SAF biofuels, this is no longer the case. “This is vital if we want to meet our net-zero emissions targets,” he says.
Producing a low-carbon to carbon-negative biofuel is dependent on the feedstock used. Sherbacow says that done correctly, it will provide a clear runway for lowering carbon emissions and enable a sustainable future for aviation. “Critical to this effort is the integrity of the data used to calculate these lifecycle emissions reductions.”
Bryan Sherbacow, CEO and chairperson, Alder Fuels
Alder’s vision of the future entails second-generation SAF being cost-competitive with petroleum. “First generation SAF is more expensive because of the need to access steady supplies of fat, oil, and grease, which favours diesel production,” Sherbacow says. Technologies used by producers like Alder on the other hand enable the conversion of abundant and scalable non-food biomass. “As this supply increases compared with demand, costs [of second gen SAF] will continue to decrease.”
For next-gen SAF to ensure its sustainability, the production of SAF must incorporate sustainable agriculture, such as soil health management, banning pesticides, and water conservation. “This is critical,” he says.“Farmers and landowners must see the economic benefit in being part of the transformation. And very importantly, the socioeconomic investment in and inclusion of communities located near sites where greencrude is being produced must be prioritised.”
There are many ways to encourage the use of SAF. “On the private side, we need abundant biomass supply to make it cost-effective for the aviation industry to ramp up usage.”
Policymakers also have a key role to play in encouraging the use of SAF and driving the industry towards sustainable alternatives. “By implementing long-term regulatory and incentive frameworks that instigate carbon reduction, we can stimulate innovation to reduce excess carbon throughout the entire energy supply chain,” says Sherbacow.
“We need to see a prioritisation of low-carbon energy that unleashes investment capital and enables rapid global scalability.”
Commercial scale production of second-generation SAF from Alder Fuels is scheduled for the early part of 2024. The company has also planned test flights using its greencrude SAF towards the end of this year. “It is an incredibly exciting moment,” says Sherbacow. “The potential is enormous.”
Avfuel: ‘Next gen will be more accessible’
Keith Sawyer, Manager of Alternative Fuels, Avfuel
THE SECOND GENERATION of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be more widely available, thanks to a wider range of feedstocks, and cheaper than early SAF supplies, according to Keith Sawyer, manager of Alternative Fuels at global supplier of aviation fuel and services Avfuel.
“There is significant availability of feedstocks, including waste, that don’t rob the food chain,” Sawyer tells Corporate Jet Investor (CJI). “I know there are ample feedstocks. I know there will be enough production.”
The wider range of fuel sources will also help cut costs, says Sawyer. “Wood waste is literally free, you just have to pick it up. There’s an extraordinary amount of wood waste globally that can be aggregated and processed.” In Oregon, Avfuel has a project that is converting waste wood products leftover in joinery and manufacturing, along with pulp and paper, into SAF.
“With municipal waste in the US, they’ll actually pay you to take it,” Sawyer says. “There are a lot of crops that can be grown on a purpose-based basis specific to SAF and renewable fuel productions.” One of these is corn or maize, America’s most widely grown crop, which takes up nearly 5% of the country’s farmland. A third of this is used specifically for renewable fuels, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). “There is a significant amount of ethanol that’s produced from this inedible corn,” says Sawyer. “It’s not corn destined for the food chain, and it’s not robbing land from food production as there is a mandate [US government directive] around ethanol.”
Recycling leftover food wastes to produce fuel, such as used cooking oils and fats and wastage from butchery, will also help to boost supply. “We did a project with Dallas Fort Worth Airport with Neste, where the airport sold all of their used oils and greases from their restaurants to a Neste feedstock company,” says Sawyer. “Neste made it into SAF, and then we took it back to the airport to sell to private aircraft in a closed loop.”
So, when can we expect to see lower cost SAF become widely available? Sawyer reckons after 2025, depending on how quickly costly infrastructure can be developed to accommodate it. “We’ve got mostly brand-new facilities being developed, as opposed to major refineries [converting] for production of SAF,” he says. “It’s just a matter of making some adjustments in the process.”
Demand is not in doubt. “Our customer base’s driver is to do everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint,” he says. “Financial institutions, diplomatic traffic and businesses since Covid have jumped off commercial airlines and jumped onto private aircraft or chartered aircraft for their employees. They’re looking to do whatever they can to reduce their carbon footprint under the scoring that occurs now for major companies.”
Strengthening demand and wider availability will also mean lower prices. At present SAF is about two and a half times the cost of conventional jet fuel. “Our view as an industry and as a supplier at Avfuel is over time the price gap between the refined jet fuel pricing and a 30/70 blend of SAF will narrow,” he says. “Since 70% of the product is typically jet fuel, its price is a good marker as to what will happen overall in terms of cost.”
Bombardier: ‘During scaling, prices will be volatile’
RENEWED AWARENESS of the impacts of land use and food cycle security have shaped this generation of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), says Scott Goobie, fellow, Engineering, Bombardier. He is referring to hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) and synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK).
“This generation SAF, by their definition, protect land use against climate change as well as food security,” Goobie tells CJI. “It has addressed the potential adverse climate impacts of land use from the original bio-fuels as well as factoring in the existing food production cycle to ensure food security and prevent inappropriate commercial influence on crop choices.”
Every SAF pathway requires a “clean bill of health” via the approved pathways established by SAE ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesised Hydrocarbons). And the process to achieve pathway approval is via SAE ASTM D4054 (Standard Practice for Evaluation of New Aviation Turbine Fuels and Fuel Additives). This qualification, including engine and aircraft testing, ensures that these SAFs are truly sustainable, as well as meeting the requirements for safe fuels when blended with Jet A or Jet A-1, according to Goobie.
“Regarding the loss or leakage of carbon due to non-renewable energy usage or unplanned transport of the SAF, etc., these are the responsibility of the SAF producers and distributors to certify in the delivery documents that come with the fuel,” he says.
The second generation is now available and in use internationally, with a steady expected growth rate. Since 2011, over 250,000 commercial flights have used a blend of SAF.
The price of SAF is highly dependent on a range of factors – especially the scaling of production. As the production rates increase, the price will fall to well below previous generations of SAF. “During scaling, the prices will be volatile, however, specific jurisdictions are providing ‘Low Carbon Fuel Standards’ to assist operators by lowering the prices of SAF,” adds Goobie.
As a company how can Bombardier promote the uptake of SAF? This can be done though a variety of events and demonstrations, says Goobie, as well as offering it at time of aircraft delivery. The Canadian firm’s entire demonstration fleet flies on a blend of SAF. “Beyond promoting awareness, macro-economic or societal factors can have a benefit to uptake.
“There is an increasingly long list of public and government incentives and growing market forces, including more pressure from passengers, the UN, ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] and states around the world, as well as private citizens who advocate to reduce climate change caused by human carbon emissions,” concludes Goobie.
Scott Goobie, Fellow, Engineering, Bombardier
4AIR: ‘Much of the production infrastructure still needs investment’
BETTER SCALABILITY AND sustainability will be the hallmarks of the coming generation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), according to Nancy Bsales. 4AIR’s chief operating officer tells CJI today’s feedstocks are already at the ceiling of their potential emissions reductions compared to convention jet fuel.
“EU blending mandates, the US Grand Challenge, and long-term goals of reducing 65% of emissions through SAF by 2050 necessitate using multiple feedstocks and pathways to produce sufficient SAF,” says Bsales. “This next generation of SAF will help unlock feedstocks with even higher emissions reductions that can more economically scale and support these impressive long term goals,”
The next generation of SAF will be derived from wood and agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, waste oils and gases, alcohols and sugars and, down the road, a variety of energy crops grown specifically for SAF.
“These future crops have to be grown so as to not compete with food crops or land used for food crop cultivation in order to be certified as SAF. Indirect land-use change (ILUC) occurs when the cultivation of crops for biofuels displaces traditional production of crops for food and feed purposes,” says Bsales.
True sustainability can only be achieved once a robust set of environmental criteria for SAF, including the direct and indirect effects of that feedstock, are met, she says. “It is important that we include rigorous standards in order to promote truly sustainable feedstocks. An example is the recent EU directive that states for sustainability reasons, feed and food crop-based fuels should not be eligible.”
Nancy Bsales, Chief operating officer, 4AIR
So, when will more fuel begin to come online? The largest influx of coming SAF production will be around 2024-2025 but many of the more novel feedstocks may still be out to 2027 or later. “Larger volumes from existing SAF feedstocks will also be available starting around 2024-2025 as plant upgrades and expansions are completed,” says Bsales. Both Neste and World Energy are increasing capabilities as well as other expected volumes from newer producers, however the industry will still be far off its 2050 goals. Some reports predict as little as 10% of aviation demand will be met.
The big question is how much is SAF going to cost. On average SAF is a little over double the price of conventional jet fuel. The expectancy is as production is scaled the price will come down. “Since so many factors go into the cost basis of fuels, it is not known if it will cost less or more. In the near term, it will likely be about the same as existing SAF but many of the new SAF feedstocks have better long term cost scalability that should bring the price lower than current SAF,” says Bsales. “We need a diverse range of feedstocks and large volumes of SAF to meet our goals. With additional SAF and new types of feedstocks and pathways comes better cost efficiency.”
There are a number avenues through which SAF demand can be increased. A mix of government incentives and mandates “go a long way” to encourage voluntary adoption while de-risking future SAF investments. “Although SAF is a drop in solution, much of the production infrastructure still needs investment which is where policy directives would help de-risk financing,” explains Bsales.
Incentives help to encourage voluntary adoption and prime the pump while base mandates help ensure a broader adoption that includes all actors. A mix of both are helping to encourage SAF, but additional measures could help accelerate the transition, she says.
“Moreover, strong accountability and a robust accounting framework will encourage adoption by helping users understand exactly how sustainable their fuel is, how to accurately report that to the public, and built trust in SAF as a viable long term decarbonisation solution.”
National Air Transport Association: ‘Four goals for second generation SAF’
Tim Obitts, President and CEO, National Air Transport Association (NATA)
SECOND GENERATION sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) should deliver four main benefits compared with the first generation, according to Tim Obitts, president and CEO of the National Air Transport Association (NATA).
Those include: enabling 100% SAF use, cutting carbon emissions, reducing prices and offer commercial scalability. “The second generation SAF should get us to 100% SAF neat usage with lower to zero aromatics and reduced particulate emission than first generation SAF that is blended with petroleum,” Obitts tells CJI. “Once fully scaled, this will play a major part in getting us to our industry’s net-zero goal.”
The new generation of SAF products should also significantly reduce the life-cycle carbon emission in the whole gallon. “Currently, SAF only reduces on the neat component of the blended finished product. If we can get to 100% neat usage, this will move us along way,” says Obitts.
The lower price of second generation SAF should play a key role in its wider update. Reducing the price of SAF will get us closer to petroleum jet fuel prices,.
Finally new SAF fuels will be commercially scalable and use existing refining infrastructure. This will also help to lower its pricing.
How do we ensure second generation SAF is truly (and demonstrably) sustainable in terms of carbon emissions and lifecycle? The best way is through proper accounting, auditing, and transparency, says Obitts.
He believes in order to get the industry to 100% SAF neat usage, we need an abundant supply of feedstock that is available around the world. “The DOE [US Department of Energy] has identified sustainable biomass as such an abundant supply, in the form of sustainable wood residue, agricultural waste, like bagasse, or regenerative crops like elephant or switch grass. This last group can produce a negative life-cycle greencrude that can be refined into SAF.”
Lastly Obitts addresses the thorny question of how can the greater use of SAF be encouraged. The answer lies in education, public policy and incentives, he argues. “The industry associations continue to educate and work with their members to encourage use and adoption. We have created more demand than supply. We now need to supercharge through public policy and incentives the supply side to meet the demand.”
Neste: ‘SAF to cut aviation emission by two-thirds by 2050’
THE SECOND GENERATION of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is available now and will help to cut aviation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by nearly two-thirds (65%) towards the net carbon zero goals of 2050. That’s the optimistic message from Jonathan Wood, vice president Europe, Renewable Aviation at Neste.
SAF has been available for more than a decade. And it’s been used to fuel more than 370,000 flights since 2016, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). That’s a tiny proportion of its full potential, says Wood.
But first a little chemistry. First-generation biodiesel, also known as Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME), is produced when plant oil or animal fat undergoes the chemical process of transesterification. But in recent years, Neste (and other manufacturers) have used a production technology called Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) to make higher-quality products such as renewable diesel and SAF.
“The HEFA process is the only commercially scaled up production technology,” says Wood. “The SAF is then blended up to 50% with fossil fuel to be certified as an aviation jet fuel.”
Currently operating with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons, Neste aims to boost annual SAF production to 1.5m tonnes by the end of next year. As SAF production ramps up – so will its contribution to cutting CO2 emissions, says Wood.
“SAF is expected to deliver around 65% of the aviation emission reductions by 2050,” he says. But achieving that impressive contribution will need widespread industry co-ordination – creating an opportunity for private jet aviation. “All players in aviation need to work together to pull all the levers to reduce emissions and business aviation can take the lead.”
Then there is the thorny question of cost. SAF sells at a hefty premium compared with conventional jet fuel. “It is almost three times the fossil jet cost, but the cost gap shrinks further after taking into account incentives such as those available in the US, UK and Netherlands,” says Wood.
Government policies will also play a crucial role in supporting new technologies, he argues. Policy proposals in the EU and UK are likely to come into effect in 2025, with the commitment of at least 10% SAF usage across the aviation sector by 2030 announced by the UK government last year. It’s similar in North America.
“Neste’s SAF production capacity alone will grow 15 times over the next 15 months – this is significantly higher than the proposed EU SAF mandate for 2025,” says Wood.
Neste’s SAF cuts CO2 emissions by 80% over the life cycle of the fuel compared with conventional fossil jet fuel, according to the company. To ensure sustainability and accurately measure its effects on carbon emissions, Neste uses approved certification bodies such as ISCC in Europe, and has just made its first delivery certified according to the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) standard.
Jonathan Wood, Vice president Europe, Renewable Aviation, Neste
As demand grows, investment in growing supply and the development of new production technologies is likely to take off. Wood says that this will require many billions to be invested annually, but the journey has started.
“We should keep in mind that the cost to the world and our society will be much greater if we do not move fast in reducing our carbon emissions,” says Wood. “The question should not be ‘What does it cost?’ but rather ‘What will it cost if we don’t use SAF?’”
Renewable fuels expert: Alex Chikhani
THE NEXT GENERATION of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has been around longer than you might think, according to industry expert Alex Chikhani. He believes the future lies in synthetic fuels. And the biomass used for the synthetics can be the carbon captured from the world’s atmosphere.
Chikhani tells CJI that governments and industry leaders need to work together. A start has been made but more concerted progress is needed. “The EU is saying that starting in 2025, 2% of jet fuel in the EU needs to be SAF,” Chikhani tells CJI. “That's huge. We're talking about 4bn litres of jet fuel being SAF.”
For Chikhani, synthetic SAF is the next step forward. “Synthetics are actually older than biofuels,” he says. “They just haven’t had an opportunity to thrive commercially, up until now.”
Synthetic fuel is becoming more prominent in the sustainability landscape, with companies like Porsche already using it for its engines. Synthetics began over a century ago in 1913 Germany thanks to the chemist Friedrich Karl Rudolf Bergius, who conducted the first process of direct coal liquefaction (DLC). The basic principle of the experiment was to use coal instead of crude oil to obtain liquid hydrocarbons used for fuel.
“You could feasibly convert coal into jet fuel,” says Chikhani. “Whilst probably quite practical for countries with coal resources, this is not sustainable. The carbon needs to come from the atmosphere, which is where aircraft have been placing it. This will ensure its sustainability.” Getting this carbon is through means of air capture.
Alex Chikhani, industry expert
Using air capture to collect carbon and convert it into SAF is no easy feat. It entails large fans blowing air from the atmosphere over a reactor bed, typically electrolysis, to provide the source of carbon matter for the fuel. “It is an energy-intensive process because although CO2 has increased in the atmosphere, it is in very small volumes. This means a lot more air needs to go through the machine to be captured,” says Chikhani.
The large amounts of energy needed to convert must come from established land-based sources of sustainable energy. Transporting the fuel to the location of use must also be considered, says Chikhani. “It is nonsensical to produce green fuel miles away from where it is needed. It makes much more sense to produce the fuel as close to the point of use as possible to minimise its carbon footprint.”
Another challenge is the availability of matter used as feedstock, with some biofuels using crops as a base for the fuel. “The downside of biofuel is that they can have a detrimental environmental impact. The practical challenge with certain feedstocks is that they be used for food for people, rather than using that biomass for aviation.
“So far, biofuels have dominated the largest share of the SAF market, and still have a role to play. They are getting the industry to change because they are available and cheap to produce,” says Chikhani. But there are problems such as the different burn characteristics of biofuels. Synthetics, on the other hand do not have this issue.
“By virtue, they can be synthesised to replicate the exact material and burn characteristics in jet engines as standard jet fuel.”
Whilst the road ahead for sustainable aviation is challenging, Chikhani says it lies with innovators and investors in business aviation shouldering some of that responsibility and investing in the early stages of a growing sector. “When it comes to carbon footprints on the net zero requirements for aviation, it's a really difficult sector to tackle, but we've got the technological ability to take it and win.”
