ALIGHT WP 2

The use of SAF is a reality, though not large in quantities. Commercial flights have been carried out using 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 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 3-4 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 2023/25 are alcohol to jet and the Fischer-Tropsch technology using MSW as the main feedstock. Small amounts of SAF is aviable in CPH and Rome Airport. In 2025 2% is mandatory in all european airports (CPH approx. 50.000 m3). Fuel for aircraft have a strict approval process. 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 approved eight alternative fuel pathways. Read more here.

WP2 objectives

ALIGHT WP2 focuses on the production and supply of SAF from the feedstock sourcing to production methods/technologies till the arrival at the airport. The final outcome of the WP2 is to provide recommendations on the purchase of SAF.

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 categories are: SAF supply and delivery, sustainability, price, security, regulation and compliance. 

Definition and sustainability

Traditional jetfuels 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).