UN Mandate and New Biojet Fuel Options

UN Mandate and New Biojet Fuel Options

Spurring airlines sustainability

A period of significant progress in improved sustainability for the airline industry is on the horizon.

Worldwide, the airline industry contributes about 2 percent of the planet's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But air travel is expected to boom in coming years, with a doubling of passengers and flights predicted by 2030. That will drive growth in jet fuel consumption, as well as growth in GHG emissions, particulates, and other trace chemical pollutants, both from the burning of the fuel during flight, and as a result of the production of the fuel in the first place. This growth is making the industry one of the fastest growing polluters with GHG emission increasing by 50 percent each year.

To the ai›rline industry's credit, they have been proactive in working to reduce GHG emissions by improving efficiencies of engines and airframes, in essence achieving more "miles per gallon." Some airlines have taken steps to encourage renewable resource-based clean burning fuels. But the game is about to change, and intensify. A new set of energy efficiency rules from the United Nations, and supported by the EPA, means for the first time, the industry is facing government pressure to make changes.

In February, the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposed a new set of rules regulating GHG emissions from the airline industry. If approved, the rules will require new aircraft shipping by 2028 to be, on average, 4 percent more fuel-efficient compared to today's levels. The rules mandate efficiency improvements ranging from 0 to 11 percent, with the bigger reductions reserved for larger aircraft. The result will be a GHG reduction of 650 million metric tons between 2020 and 2040.

The airline industry itself, represented by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), have agreed to their own sustainability guidelines which are even more aggressive than what the UN rules will require. These guidelines include:

Fuel efficiency improvement of 1.5% per year on average between 2009 and 2020;
Carbon-neutral growth from 2020;
50% net emissions reduction in 2050 compared to 2005.

However, according to the industries' own data, efficiencies are not enough, they need to do something about its over reliance on fossil-based jet fuel. Alternative clean burning renewable fuels are required to meet the goals. Carbon neutral growth cannot be achieved without the use of renewable resource-based fuels.

While the airline industry recognizes the need for GHG mitigation and pollution mitigation, the question is how to achieve it. At one end of the spectrum, some airlines simply take the point of view: "tax me." Given the growth of the industry, and the amount of pollution the industry generates, it would seem these companies will get what they ask for.

At the other end of the spectrum, some airlines are taking leadership positions to encourage the development and commercialization of alternative jet fuels. They recognize they are accountable for their emissions, that sustainable alternatives take work and investment, and they should proactively do something constructive about it.

The leaders of these airlines recognize they need to create demand for alternative jet fuels or regulation, and increasing taxation on fossil-based carbon emissions will likely be a certainty. They recognize having available alternatives to taxation is strategically a very good thing.

Alternative fuels simply can't be turned on instantly. They take years to develop. The fuels must be proven acceptable for commercial use, and it takes time to build out the capital assets needed to make significant quantities of fuel. The leaders in the airline industry are willing to work with fuel developers to create alternatives through investment, or by using financeable supply contracts. They calculate payoffs over the next 5 to 10 years with renewable fuel alternatives will provide an improved sustainability profile and be cost competitive with fossil-based jet fuel. Cleaner, and ultimately cheaper, is the goal.

Where is the industry now?
In April, ASTM International, the world's largest standard setting body, released a new version of ASTM D7566, the standard that governs jet fuel with synthesized hydrocarbons. The new standard approves the use of alcohol to jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK) derived from renewable isobutanol. With this change of standard, there are now three renewable resource-based jet fuel alternatives included in the commercial specification, and a fourth that might be in the future, although it still uses fossil-based carbon sources.

The renewable alternatives are:

Jet fuel made from vegetable oil or tallow through chemical processing. This process (called HEFA) works and is just entering the commercialization stage.
An additive for jet fuel made from carbohydrates called farnasane via primarily a fermentation process.
A jet fuel made from an alcohol called isobutanol by a chemical process. The isobutanol can be made from carbohydrates by a fermentation process. This product is referred to as alcohol to jet, or ATJ.

Data suggests the ATJ alternative is the most effective in terms of operating cost, capital cost, feedstock availability, scalability, and translation across geographies.

The fourth approved route to alternative jet fuels is called Fischer Tropsch (FT). This process traditionally uses coal as the feedstock, although companies are putting forth effort to use natural gas or recycled plastics as feedstocks. Of course, these routes also depend upon fossil carbon sources. There is potential for FT to be adapted to renewable carbon sources, but this still needs to be developed and proven to work at a commercial scale. FT generally has the highest capital cost to deploy compared to other alternative jet process routes.

The airline industry has a problem, and several alternatives to address the problem. The next steps will be building out the full commercial capability to produce alternative jet fuels that have an improved sustainability profile. Leaders in the industry are already taking steps to make the alternatives real, while understanding it takes time to build out the commercial asset infrastructure. They recognize that for all practical purposes, the year 2020 is here, now.

Patrick Gruber is the chief executive officer at Gevo, Inc.

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