Flight International - 04

Environment Fuels
JetBlue gives passengers the option to
contribute to the cost of SAF operations
AirTeamImages
way to go to achieve net-zero by 2050,” JetBlue
acknowledges, with SAF having accounted for just
0.3% of the fuel it burned in 2022.
While global SAF capacity is projected to increase
fivefold this year, it will still account for just 1% of
jet fuel consumption in 2023, ING researcher Coco
Zhang told FlightGlobal in December 2022. Nearly
3% of jet fuel consumed globally will be SAF by 2026.
Andac has been with GE for 16 years, focusing
mostly on synthetic aviation fuel. He has worked
extensively on SAF assessment and standardisation,
which occurs under the umbrella of ASTM International,
an organisation that develops and publishes
voluntary consensus technical standards. Through
the process, industry players plan to establish a fuel
definition qualifying synthetic fuel components.
Production pathways
Not all SAF is produced the same way, Andac
explains. Seven SAF production pathways are currently
qualified by ASTM, with an eighth expected to
be approved this year.
If such synthetic fuel is sustainably derived from
sources such as corn grain, oil seeds, algae, fats, oils
and greases, or agricultural and forestry residues, it
is considered SAF. And in a recently-launched EUfunded
project, a consortium is investigating conversion
of agricultural manure and straw into SAF.
But the availability of feedstock is another issue.
A 2021 report from the International Council on
Clean Transportation estimates “there is a sufficient
resource base to support approximately 3.4 million
tonnes of advanced SAF production annually, or 5.5%
of projected [EU] jet fuel demand in 2030”.
“There is variation of
composition with the
synthetic blending
components. The industry
needs to standardise
what 100% SAF is”
Gurhan Andac Engineering leader for aviation fuels
and additive, GE Aerospace
The industry has started with SAF blends –
synthetically derived components blended with
commercial jet fuel – which is available today.
“[With] some of them, you cannot use unblended
at all, so there is variation of composition with
the synthetic blending components,” Andac says.
“Because of such variance, the industry needs to
standardise what 100% SAF is.”
Research is under way to power aircraft entirely
with 100% drop-in SAF.
In January, Emirates conducted Boeing 777-300ER
ground tests using SAF. One of the jet’s GE90
engines burned 100% SAF, while the other burned
conventional jet fuel. This allowed GE – along with
partners Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, Neste and
biofuel maker Virent – to make a comparison of the
fuels’ performance.
April 2023 Flight International 61