16 European partners are working hard towards zero-emission aviation. Copenhagen Airportis coordinating the project, and fellow airports in Rome, Vilnius and Warsaw are planning to replicate best practice solutions from ALIGHT. An ALIGHT concept will demonstrate:

• The supply, integration and use of sustainable aviation fuel
• The supple integration and implementation og smart energy

The ALIGHT project is divided into 11 different work packages, each dealing with different stages in the path to an emission free airport. NISA ia a part of the work packes 2 (WP2), which deals with SAF, new propellants and sustainability as turning points. www.alight-aviation.eu

ALIGHT members

ALIGHT WP2 overview

ALIGHT Workpackage 2

The use of SAF is a reality, though not large in quantities. Commercial flights have been carried out on SAF blend-in by more than 50 airlines and has thus demonstrated technical compliance with conventional jet fuel. More than 300.000 flights have flown on various amounts of blend-in SAF. However, there are large barriers to using SAF on a broad regular basis, including challenges of operation and logistics as well as commercial barriers such as pricing, availability, sustainability and policy settings. The volumes being produced today are not enough to make a substantial impact on the environmental footprint from aviation activity. They cover only approx. 0,1% of global aviation fuel consumption and prices between 2-4 times conventional jet fuel have been observed in recent years.

While today almost all sustainable fuel used in aviation is from biogenic sources, first and foremost HEFA from used cooking oils, there are other drop-in fuels under development, especially the so-called power-to-liquid (PtL) also named electrofuels. Other technologies expected to enter the market in 2023/24 are alcohol to jet and Fischer-Tropsch plant using MSW as the main feedstock.

For WP2 the estimated forecasts are that an amount equivalent to 1% of domestic aviation is covered by SAF in CPH in 2022/23 and that nationally produced SAF is available at Rome Airport. In 2025 4% of all aviation in CPH is covered by SAF (approx. 50.000 m3).

Fuel for aircraft have a strict approval process and with the first alternative fuel to the traditional fossil fuel being approved in 2011. The alternative fuels must be approved by the American society for testing and materials (ASTM) and have since 2011 only approved nine alternatives. Read more here.

WP2 objectives

ALIGHT Work package 2 (WP2) focuses on the production and supply of SAF from the feedstock sourcing to production methods/technologies and till the arrival the airport. The final outcome of the WP2 is to engage with recommendations on the purchase of SAF to the end-users and/or Copenhagen airport as the LIGHTHOUSE, the fellow airports and EU and aviation sector in general.

WP 2 should create the best possible conditions for the supply of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). This implies the following objectives

• Identification, preparation and visualization of relevant documentation processes/structures in the SAF/fuel supply chain for subsequent reporting/accounting.
• To create the optimal conditions for the supply of SAF to CPH, including future opportunities (e.g., future production facilities in proximity to CPH)
• To act as a link between supplier, possibly suppliers, and end users.
• To investigate two options for the necessary supply to the airport, taking into account product prices, delivery capacity, sustainability and continuity. 
•  To prepare and quality check the SAF flow process
• To develop input for best practice recommendations, together with fellow airports

WP2 main tasks/categories are:  Sustainability, price, Security and regulation and compliance. 

Definition and sustainability

Traditional jet fuels are a mix of hydrocarbons, including mostly normal paraffins, iso-paraffins, cycloparaffins and aromatics, produced from the kerosene fraction of crude oil. Drop-in bio-based fuels – synthetic fuels that can be used in conventional engines and fuel logistics – are liquid hydrocarbons that have the same properties as conventional aviation fuels.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) differentiates between aviation alternative fuels (AAF), obtained from sources other than petroleum, such as coal, natural gas, biomass, and hydrogenated fats and oils with the potential to be sustainably produced, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which are AAF that meet sustainability criteria. There is no single internationally agreed definition of SAF.

Sustainability criteria for AAF have been defined under the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation (CORSIA) – a market-based measure with the aim of limiting greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation to their 2020 levels. In the EU framework, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) entered into force end of 2018 set sustainability requirements for biofuels. The revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) will be updated with the results of the Fit for 55.

With respect to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), under ICAO’s CORSIA, SAF should achieve life cycle emission reductions of at least 10 % compared to a fossil fuel baseline of 89 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule (g CO2e/MJ). According to RED II, in order to qualify biofuels as renewable energy sources, fuels have to achieve a 65 % greater reduction in emissions against a fossil fuel baseline of 94 g CO2e/MJ. (*based on EPRS, Nov. 2020).