Sustainable Aviation Fuel: An Ethanol Type-Solution To Run Airplanes Using Waste Cooking Oil
SAF, like ethanol-blended petrol for cars, is an alternative fuel made from non-petroleum feedstocks that reduces emissions from air transportation.
Sustainable aviation fuel or SAF has been slowly gaining prominence as the industry attempts to make transitions towards green energy. SAF, like ethanol-blended petrol for cars, is an alternative fuel made from non-petroleum feedstocks that reduces emissions from air transportation.
The jet fuel can be blended at different levels with limits between 10% and 50%, depending on the feedstock and how the fuel is produced. This week, the country’s largest refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Group airline Air India for the supply of SAF, marking a major step towards a greener future for Indian aviation.
IOC is the first Indian company to secure ISCC CORSIA certification for SAF production at its Panipat Refinery. ISCC CORSIA is a certification system for compliance with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) criteria for SAF. It is a prerequisite for commercial SAF production.
The company plans to start production of SAF on a commercial scale at its Panipat refinery by December, according to media reports. By the end of 2025, IOC will have the capacity to produce 35,000 tonnes per year of SAF from used cooking oil.
How Is SAF Produced?
Sustainable aviation fuel can be produced from non-petroleum-based renewable feedstocks like food and yard waste portion of municipal solid waste, woody biomass, fats/greases/oils, and other feedstocks. These require complex chemical processes at the refineries.
Triglyceride or oil-based feedstocks such as plant oil, animal oil, yellow or brown greases or waste fat, oil, and greases are hydroprocessed to break apart the long chain of fatty acids, followed by a process called hydroisomerization and hydrocracking, according to the US Energy Department.
Pretreated waste fat, oil, and greases can also be eligible feedstocks. Used cooking oil and waste animal fats are two other popular sources for coprocessing with petroleum intermediates as a potential SAF pathway.
Such non-petroleum feedstock to make SAF could be sourced at scale from large hotel chains like those run by Taj Hotels, Oberoi Hotels and ITC Hotels, restaurants, and sweets and snacks majors like Haldiram’s, which normally discard cooking oil after single use.
Cleaner Air Travel
Sustainable aviation fuel blended with conventional jet fuel can be used in existing aircraft and infrastructure. Compared with conventional jet fuel, 100% SAF has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 94% depending on feedstock and technology pathway, according to the US Energy Department.
SAF is a replacement for conventional jet fuel, allowing for multiple products from various feedstocks and production technologies. Aviation accounts for 2% of all carbon dioxide emissions globally and 12% of all CO2 emissions from transportation.
The international aviation industry has set an aspirational goal to reach net-zero carbon by 2050. SAF presents the best near-term opportunity to meet these goals.
Importance For India
Biofuels in India are of strategic importance as they align with the ongoing initiatives of the government such as Make in India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. For example, India initiated the use of ethanol as an automotive fuel in 2003 and is primarily produced using sugarcane molasses.
The government has a 10% blending target for mixing ethanol with petrol by 2022, a 20% blending target by 2030 and 5% blending of biodiesel in diesel in the whole country by 2030.
Likewise, the adoption of SAF also presents the opportunity to reduce reliance on costly imported crude and create a new income source for small and large companies to dispose of their used oil.
