SGS INSPIRE attended the First Pan-American Congress on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), held on July 31, 2024, in Bogota, Colombia. The Colombian Federation of Renewable Energy Producers for Mobility (), the Pan-American Coalition of Liquid Biofuels () and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture () organized this event.
Attendees included Topsoe, Honeywell, Lanzajet, Praj Industries, U.S. Grains Council, Argentine Chamber of Corn Bioethanol, Argentine Chamber of Biofuels (CARBIO), Association of Biofuel Producers of Brazil (APROBIO), Alcoholes del Uruguay S.A (ALUR), Brazil's Local Production Arrangement for Alcohol (APLA), Ecopetrol S.A., Guatemala's Renewable Fuels Association (ACR), the Brazilian Aeronautical Company S.A. (Embraer), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), the U.S. Office of Environment and Energy Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Chile's Sustainable Energy Agency, Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Platts, Avianca, among others.
The agenda of the event covered the following key topics:
SAF policies and regulations
•The U.S., Canada, the EU, the U.K., Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia and Chile are implementing or developing carbon emission policies for the aviation sector
•Thepointed out that in 2023-2024 there is a under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) section 13203 (2023-2024) and a under section 13704 (2025-2027)
•featured the Fuel of the Future bill, which is under discussion in the Bazilian Senate. This bill institutes an emission reduction mandate by the use of SAF, imposed on domestic airlines from 2027 until 2037 (about 1,400 million liters consumed by 2037)
•Brazil's ANAC mentioned that the public policy for SAF in Brazil is technology-neutral, not excluding any feedstock, technology or pathway. In addition, this policy seeks alignment between national policies and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation ()
• has as a target 50% of SAF used in aviation in Chile by 2050
SAF technologies
•A third of the current SAF and renewable diesel (RD) operational production capacity is based on Topsoe technology
•pointed out that in the hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) pathway production, virgin oils, waste oils and fats pretreatment is critical to remove contaminants and protect equipment and catalysts. Contaminants depend on feedstocks but typically include chlorides, polyethylene, phosphorus, metals and solids, among others. In addition, waste feeds require more pretreatment
•Topsoe emphasized that co-processing is a low-track, fast solution for SAF, considering that:
•Existing assets are evaluated and reused while new components may be added
•Up to two years of construction time can be gained
•The implementation is possible with both hydrotreaters and hydrocrackers
•Capital expenditures (CAPEX) savings start at 30%
•Lanzajet spotlighted that their first commercial ethanol-to-SAF biorefinery is located in Soperton, Georgia, with a total SAF/RD production of . Lanzajet highlighted the potential of using waste-based ethanol supply, i.e. cellulosic ethanol, as feedstock for its alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology
•indicated that there is no naphtha production in their ATJ technology. Their ATJ production modes are Max Jet Mode (90% SAF and 10 % RD) and Max Diesel Mode (25% SAF and 75% RD). Any product distribution between Max Jet and Max Diesel modes can also be accommodated
•Lanzajet is considering using not only green hydrogen in SAF production, which has a price of USD 6.4 per kg, but also blue hydrogen which has a price of USD 3.2 per kg (cost production sensitivities)
• is also offering an ATJ pathway which co-produces renewable naphtha and RD
•The explained the 63% emission reduction on a life cycle assessment (LCA) basis of sugarcane ethanol ATJ in Brazil compared with a baseline emission value of 89 gCO2e/MJ for jet fuel. CORSIA Sustainability Criterion requires net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions of at least 10% compared to a baseline
•According to the , by 2030, 78% of the global SAF production capacity will be HEFA technology, followed by 10% of co-processing, 7% ATJ, 4% syngas Fischer–Tropsch reaction (FT) and 1% power-to liquid (PtL)
•According to Platts, between 2030 and 2050 the ATJ pathway will gain market share at a global level, equaling the HEFA pathway
•called attention to its EMB 202 IPANEMA, which is the first airplane certified with bioethanol as fuel
SAF market
•According to Platts, the SAF/RD price formulas (cost-based price calculations) include the following elements: feedstock quotations (key input), hydrogen prices, fixed costs and byproducts quotations (naphtha, gasoline, propane, diesel)
•SAF prices are directly correlated with feedstock prices. One example of this is the difference in SAF prices between the U.S. (mainly produced from tallow) and Europe (mainly produced from used cooking oil (UCO))
•According to IATA, in 2024 SAF will have only a production share of 0.5% of global jet fuel production. This is considering that SAF supply capacity is expected to double in 2024 compared to 2023, and despite bottlenecks in feedstock availability, according to Platts
•The IATA projection is that the Americas will have, by 2030, 23.6 million tonnes per year of production capacity (39 projects), followed by Europe with 12.1 million tonnes per year (58 projects), Asia-Pacific with 8.3 million tonnes per year (25 projects), North Asia with 4.6 million tonnes per year (14 projects) and Africa/Middle East with 2.2 million tonnes per year (3 projects)
•According to IATA, SAF will be responsible for reductions in aviation by 2050. A 1,000-fold increase in SAF production (500 million tonnes) is needed by 2050
•According to , in Colombia, approximately 35,000 barrels per day (2,037 million liters per year) of fossil jet fuel are sold, showing an increase of 6% compared to 2023. Demand in the interior of the country is approximately 29,000 barrels per day (1,687 million liters per year) and in the northern zone, 6,000 barrels per day (349 million liters per year). This demand is mainly supplied by the refineries of the state-owned oil company Ecopetrol: Barrancabermeja and Cartagena. El Dorado Airport (Bogota) represents 65% of national consumption
SAF production capacities (million tonnes per year) per region by 2030
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Source: SGS INSPIRE analysis based on data from IATA, 2024
For more information, consult the overview of SAF technology, policy and market 2024 in , and reports.