Sustainable aviation fuel comes of age
Sustainable aviation fuels have been under development for more than a decade at Neste, and the company believes an uptick in demand is imminent
Arne Padt Neste
A viation is an industry built on cooperation and responsibility. Its actors have a history of coming together to agree on standards and procedures that keep passengers and freight moving safely around the world. In recent years, the industry has taken some important shared steps to address its environmental impact. At pre-pandemic levels, aviation produced some 2.5% of all carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. Acknowledging this, the aviation industry has committed to carbon-neutral growth from 2020, and a 50% reduction in net emissions by 2050 (from 2005 levels). A key element in achieving these targets is the wider introduction of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste and residue raw materials. These sustainable fuels are blended with traditional jet fuels for a lower environmental footprint per flight. The SAF industry has been quietly growing since the late 2000s through infrastructure
investment and hundreds of test flights. More recently, critical changes in national regulations have given the industry a significant boost. Early standards, first movers The SAF industry was born around 2006 with the formation of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) in the United States. Today, CAAFI is one of the industry’s main bodies, a public-private partnership that drives the development of alternative jet fuels through its member airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, policymakers and companies like Neste. The first SAF standard was approved in 2009 through the international standards organisation ASTM. Today, there are seven ASTM-certified pathways available for SAF production. Depending on the pathway, the fuels may be made from a variety of raw materials, including used cooking oils, animal waste fats, and different
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