News

Federal agencies developing sustainable aviation fuel roadmap

Federal agencies are working together to help the sustainable aviation fuel industry grow.

Valerie Reed with the U.S. Department of Energy says DOE, USDA, and the Federal Aviation Administration have released a SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap.

“We signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop these technologies such that we can produce 3 billion gallons by 2030 and 35 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel by 2050.”

She tells Brownfield the U.S. is currently producing around 30 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel using mostly fats, oils, and greases.

“And of course we use soybean oil, which has been used for the production of biodiesel for years. All of this can be brought together in these facilities to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.”

Reed says ethanol has tremendous market potential because of a process called “alcohol to jet.”

“Taking alcohol, taking ethanol, we can convert it through a number of different processes to a drop-in replacement jet fuel, which also qualifies as sustainable aviation fuel.”

She adds regulators developing SAF guidance want to ensure feedstocks like corn are sustainable, and says more agricultural crops will be needed to meet future demand.