A slew of new sustainable aviation fuel initiatives have been announced in the US, including major supplies for United Airlines and JetBlue at their respective hubs in Chicago and New York, Airbus investing in emerging SAF producer LanzaJet and UK start-up Firefly Green Fuels partnering with US biosolids feedstock provider Synagro Technologies to produce low carbon fuel in North America. United will receive up to 1 million gallons (3,000 tonnes) of SAF during 2024 from Finland’s Neste, which has just commissioned a new terminal facility in Houston, Texas, while JetBlue will take at least 1 million gallons from World Fuel Services, potentially by the fourth quarter of this year. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, meanwhile, has joined a list of big-name investors in LanzaJet, which recently activated the world’s first ethanol-to-SAF facility, Freedom Pines Fuels in Georgia.

By signing for SAF from Neste’s newly-commissioned SAF terminal capacity at ONEOK’s Galena Park Terminal facility in Houston, Texas, United, the world’s third biggest airline, will become the first carrier to buy SAF to power regular commercial flights from Chicago O’Hare, the third busiest airport in the US.

The new capacity at ONEOK’s terminal provides Neste with storage capacity of up to 100,000 tons (around 33.5 million gallons) and is directly connected to the energy pipeline infrastructure in the eastern part of the US. The SAF is expected to be piped to Chicago from August, expanding the availability of Neste’s product to airlines operating from east of the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast.

The deal has been underpinned by the Illinois SAF Purchase Credit, introduced last year for every gallon of the fuel sold to or used by an airline in the state.

“This is what happens when innovation, leadership and policy come together,” said United President Brett Hart, who praised the Illinois Legislature and State Governor JB Pritzker for introducing the incentives which powered the SAF deal at Chicago O’Hare. “While the market for SAF is still in its infancy, there is a huge opportunity today for airlines and policymakers to work together to support its continued growth.”

Alexander Kueper, Neste’s VP, Renewable Aviation Business, said the deal expanded an existing partnership with United, which has already procured Neste SAF in San Francisco and at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “We are excited to expand our partnership with United and see our SAF being used at one of the major airports in the US,” he said. “It underlines our commitment to supporting the US aviation industry in its efforts to decarbonise and shows the important role that policy supports like the federal SAF 40B credit and the Illinois SAF Purchase Credit play in accelerating SAF usage.”

JetBlue, too, is ramping up its SAF use, signing with US-based World Fuel Services to provide the first regular supply of blended SAF to New York’s John F Kennedy Airport, pumped in via existing infrastructure including the Colonial Pipeline, America’s largest pipeline system for refined fuel products.

Neat SAF produced by Diamond Green Diesel will be blended with conventional jet fuel by Valero Marketing and Supply Company, then delivered to World Fuel. The airline will acquire at least 1 million gallons of neat SAF, equivalent to 3.3 million gallons of blended fuel, potentially as early as the fourth quarter of this year. It will also have an option to procure up to 4 million gallons more (about 13.3 million gallons blended), though the timeline for the additional fuel was not disclosed.

“This newly available SAF in our hometown is a key signal of the growing engagement by major fuel producers and the potential of SAF to meaningfully address aviation’s carbon emissions,” said Sara Bogdan, the airline’s Managing Director of sustainability and environmental social governance. “By leveraging Valero’s globally recognised expertise in energy markets and logistics, and by utilising existing jet fuel distribution infrastructure, this new, large-scale supply of SAF is set to be a pivotal moment as the industry grows the use of SAF.”

Brad Hurwitz, World Fuel’s SVP, Supply and Trading, welcomed the JetBlue deal to bring SAF to JFK Airport, strengthening the energy company’s ambition to develop a consistent flow of the fuel to the US east coast.

“Today, as a result of state-level programmes incentivising the use of renewable fuels, the majority of domestically supplied blended SAF is delivered into west coast airports,” he said. “Engagement across public and private sectors is needed to expand the supply of SAF to more cities and grow the economies of scale.”

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has become the latest investor to support US-based SAF producer LanzaJet, strengthening that company’s plans to produce the fuel not only in America but in multiple other markets. To scale its alcohol-to-jet fuel technology, LanzaJet is involved in projects in 25 countries across five continents.

By participating in LanzaJet’s s latest growth equity funding round, Airbus joined a high-profile list of investors and funders including All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Southwest Airlines, French airports company Groupe ADP, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, sustainable finance group Breakthrough Energy, Shell, Suncor Energy and Japan’s Mitsui & Co and MUFG Bank.

“Sustainable aviation fuels are one of the most important levers available to decarbonise aviation, but their production is still limited,” said Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Airbus, echoing a consistent and increasing concern in the aviation sector. “Our partnership with LanzaJet demonstrates Airbus ’commitment to work with leading energy technology suppliers to explore innovative production pathways and scale SAF.

“This important partnership with LanzaJet underlines the importance of new technologies and cross-sector collaboration to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.”

The renewable fuel company uses low-carbon ethanol to create SAF, a process it says will reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% compared to conventional fossil-based jet fuels.  

“LanzaJet intentionally developed a diverse portfolio of strategic investors consisting of leading global companies to ensure we have the ecosystem to scale the SAF industry,” said CEO Jimmy Samartzis. “This important investment from Airbus supports the growth of our company, enabling LanzaJet to scale the production and deployment of SAF to continue working towards meeting aviation’s decarbonisation goals and developing a more sustainable industry.”

LanzaJet is involved in developing a SAF production project – Project Speedbird – in the UK in partnership with British Airways and Nova Pangaea Technologies. In the reverse direction, UK-based start-up Firefly Green Fuels, whose technology converts sewage sludge into high performance fuels including SAF, has announced that Baltimore-headquartered Synagro will be the exclusive supplier of biosolid content in the American market.

Firefly uses as process called hydrothermal liquefaction to chemically transform biosolid waste into biocrude and biochar, the former upgraded to SAF and the remainder to other uses including fertiliser. It recently secured investment funding from a partnership of Boeing and sustainable investment group Clear Sky. 

“This is a perfect partnership with monumental implications,” said Synagro’s CEO, Bob Preston. “We’re pairing Synagro’s expertise in sustainable solutions for biosolids with Firefly’s SAF technology to evolve the circular economy.”  

James Hygate, CEO of Firefly Green Fuels, said there was a huge requirement for SAF in North America, the world’s biggest combined air transport market. “By working together, we can bring operations online quickly, creating new jobs and vast volumes of truly sustainable fuel.”

Photo: United will become the first carrier to power regular commercial flights from Chicago O’Hare with SAF

Tony Harrington

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United Airlines Ventures has added eight new corporate partners to its Sustainable Flight Fund that aims to reduce emissions from the aviation sector through innovative technology and drive production of sustainable aviation fuel by providing startups with financial and strategic capital. The eight partners – Aircastle (a Marubeni & Mitzuho Leasing Company), Air New Zealand, Embraer, Google, HIS, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures and Technip Energies – join 14 others in the fund that now exceeds $200 million. Described by United as a first-of-its-kind effort, the fund’s corporate partners make up all parts of the aviation supply chain, including airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, fuel producers, engineering and technology experts, financiers and travel management. United also offers its customers an opportunity to contribute to the fund when booking a flight, which has raised nearly $500,000 since the fund was launched in February 2023. SAF startups supported to date amongst others include Alder Renewables, Cemvita, OXCCU and Fulcrum BioEnergy, while aircraft technology startups include Archer Aviation, Eve Air Mobility, Heart Aerospace and ZeroAvia.

United has ambitions to be net zero by 2050 without relying on traditional carbon offsets and as the largest airline in the world measured by available seat miles, it is investing in companies and technologies, particularly sustainable aviation fuel, that can reduce its future emissions. In addition to the Sustainable Flight Fund, in 2021 it launched the Eco-Skies Alliance that has participation from leading global corporations to help find ways to reduce their environmental impact through the use of sustainable aviation fuels. United says it has already invested in future production of more than five billion gallons of SAF through forward purchase agreements, more than any other airline.

“SAF is the best tool we have to decarbonise airplanes, but we don’t have enough of it,” commented Andrew Chang, Managing Director of United Airlines Ventures. “To create the fuel supply we need for our fleet, United recognised that we would have to help build a brand-new industry from scratch – like wind and solar in previous decades. As part of our effort to build a new sustainable aviation ecosystem, we recruited a group of partners with the industry expertise to support our startups with both financial and strategic capital, to help them navigate the entire process from conception to commercialisation.”

United’s customers using the airline’s website or app, which now show an estimated carbon emissions for each flight, can help supplement the fund by contributing $1, $3.50 or $7 during the flight booking process before check-out. The airline reports 115,000 people have contributed since February 2023. If the 152 million people who flew on United in 2022 each contributed $3.50 to the fund, says the airline, that would be enough to build a SAF refinery capable of producing around 40 million gallons of alternative fuel annually, based on an illustrative capital expenditure benchmark of $200,000 per barrel per day to build such a facility.

One of the new partners in the fund is Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, which sees an increase in the availability of SAF as a “key driving factor” to achieve aviation sustainability and has already performed flight tests on 100% neat SAF. “In a joint collaborative effort with our partners, we can accelerate large-scale SAF production as the aviation industry progresses towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050,” commented Embraer’s Head of Corporate Innovation, Leonardo Garnica.

Photo: United Airlines

Christopher Surgenor

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Two emerging US producers of sustainable aviation fuel have won significant new support, with Houston-based Cemvita Corporation announcing a 20-year SAF offtake deal from United Airlines, and New York-based DG Fuels securing Airbus as a strategic partner. United, which last year invested in Cemvita, has now committed to acquire 1 billion gallons (almost 3.8 billion litres) of SAF from the company, or up to 50 million gallons (189 million litres) per year. The fuel will be made from recycled carbon dioxide. The Airbus partnership with DG Fuels includes agreement that a portion of the SAF produced at the company’s first plant in Louisiana will be for Airbus customers. DG Fuels will use wind and solar power to produce SAF from cellulosic waste products such as forestry residue. It plans to begin SAF production in 2026.

United’s investment in Cemvita served the dual purpose of increasing renewable fuel pathways and securing the airline’s own long-term supplies of SAF. The Cemvita fuel acquired by United will be produced by using synthetic biology, a method which recreates the natural process of photosynthesis to convert CO2 to non-fossil fuels or chemicals. 

“Cemvita’s technology has the potential to provide more reliable feedstock production with minimal land, water and electricity needs,” the company explained. It said output of eCO2 plants had the potential to be carbon-negative, and that Cemvita aimed to be cost-competitive with existing crop-based HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) feedstocks and fuels.

“Since our initial investment last year, Cemvita has made outstanding progress, including opening their new pilot plant – an important step towards producing sustainable aviation fuel,” said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures, which invests in like-minded businesses focused on new aviation technologies.

“United is the global leader in SAF production investment,” he said, “but we face a real shortage of available fuel and producers. Cemvita’s technology represents a path forward for a potentially significant supply of SAF and it’s our hope that this offtake agreement for up to 1 billion gallons is just the beginning of our collaboration.”

Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita, welcomed the added commitment from United and its role in accelerating the energy transition.

“Biology is capable of truly amazing things,” he said. “This agreement featuring our unique SAF platform is a major milestone towards demonstrating our journey to full commercialisation.”

Neither company specified a timeline for the latest deal. 

Like United in its Cemvita investment, the Airbus partnership with DG Fuels is designed to accelerate new production pathways for SAF, and access for its own customers, as demand for the low-emission fuels increases. The partnership – details of which were not disclosed – will also support DG Fuels’ aims by early 2024 to launch the equity process and reach a final investment decision on building its first plant in the US.

“Sustainable aviation fuels play a crucial role in enabling aviation’s decarbonisation roadmap,” said Airbus CEO Guillame Faury. “We are committed to supporting all efforts that contribute to making them available at scale around the globe.

“The partnership with DG Fuels supports the emergence of a new technological pathway, allowing for the production of SAFs from a broader range of waste and residue resources, first in the US, with a potential for large-scale production worldwide.”

Initially, DG Fuels is targeting an average annual production capacity of 120 million gallons (454 million litres), which it estimates could avert 1.5 million tonnes of aircraft CO2 emissions from 2026.

“The DG Fuels team is excited to have finalised this SAF partnership with Airbus. We look forward to working together to accelerate the initial SAF facility in Louisiana and the subsequent scale-up at various locations in the United States and beyond,” said Michael Darcy, Chairman and CEO of DG Fuels. 

The two US SAF developments closely follow the release of a new global survey, which found SAF offtake deals in the first seven months of 2023 were less than half the number of deals of the previous year. The study, by energy sector analyst S&P Global Commodity Insights, says policy decisions in Europe and the US have driven a surge of commitments to secure SAF, overtaking supplies promised by fuel producers.

As well, says the report, concerns over the availability of appropriate feedstocks to produce the new fuels have dampened the growth outlook for the SAF sector.

“There was a rush to secure SAF deals in 2021-22 ahead of the introduction of the RefuelEU Aviation package, as airline companies did not want to be left out from the race,” said S&P biofuels analyst Akman Ozel.

And following the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, many more investment decisions, offtake agreements and Memorandums of Understanding were signed, added US-based S&P biofuels analyst Jamie Dorner. “Recently, though, it has become clearer that at that rate, offtake agreements were beginning to outpace supply, which has in part contributed to the fever cooling off,” she said.    

Photo (Jane Widdowson / Beetroot): Airbus

Tony Harrington

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United Airlines, the world’s third-biggest carrier by flight frequencies, expects to use 10 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel this year, triple its 2022 volumes, following new agreements to introduce blended product at San Francisco International and London Heathrow airports. It already uses SAF at Los Angeles and Amsterdam, and has invested in the future production of more than 5 billion gallons through both offtake agreements and equity stakes in emerging SAF producers. The airline has just uplifted its first blended SAF from San Francisco and will add London later in the year when supplies become available there. United has also announced the addition of eight new partners to its Eco-Skies Alliance programme, through which corporations contribute to the airline’s SAF purchases to help offset the emissions of flights by their own employees. The latest sign-ups take to 24 the number of corporations participating in the programme, an increase of 50%.   

The use of SAF is a key pillar in United’s programme to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 without the use of conventional carbon offsets, it says, which the airline’s CEO, Scott Kirby, has criticised as irrelevant to reducing flight emissions. It claims to have been the first airline to commit to net zero 2050 without relying on offsets.

Through investment vehicles established to support companies and technologies which can help to decarbonise air travel, United has also bought into emerging manufacturers of electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion systems, announced provisional orders for zero-emission powertrains, commuter planes and air taxis, and purchased a stake in Natron Energy, a company which produces high-density, fast-charging batteries to power electric vehicles and equipment at airports.

“In just a few years United has exponentially increased its SAF use,” said Lauren Riley, the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “While 10 million gallons of SAF in 2023 represents a fraction of what we need, we have also made big investments in producers that are using everything, from ethanol to algae, to CO2, to help increase our available future supply. We believe these investments, along with our continued collaboration with policymakers, cross-industry businesses and other airlines, will help us scale this brand-new industry to achieve comparable success to solar and wind.”

The airline’s SAF use in 2023 is expected to be three times last year’s total, and 10 times the uptake in 2019. Last month, as part of its increase in SAF use, United received 1.5 million gallons at San Francisco International from European renewable fuel company Neste, which also supplies the airline in Amsterdam. That fuel is manufactured using renewable waste and residue raw materials including used cooking oil and animal fat waste.

United will begin using SAF at Heathrow later this year, the first time the airline has participated in the airport’s SAF incentive programme. After delivering its first SAF to airlines in June 2021, Heathrow introduced the incentive scheme last year, through which it covers up to 50% of the extra cost of SAF to encourage demand from airlines. Last year, it achieved its target of 0.5% blended SAF use and this year it is aiming for 1.5%. By 2030, Heathrow wants SAF to comprise 11% of the aircraft fuel used at the airport, rising to at least 80% by 2050 and potentially 100% if sufficient supplies are available of synthetic aviation fuels, or e-fuels.

The SAF used by United is part-funded by the proceeds of its Eco-Skies Alliance programme, which was launched in April 2021 as both a SAF financing mechanism and an effective option for corporations to help compensate for their air travel emissions. United said since the programme’s inception, it had contributed to the airline’s purchase of almost 15 million gallons of SAF, 50% more than the 10 million gallons it expects to consume this year. The programme now has 24 participants, including eight new joiners just announced by the airline – Audi, Bank of America, Cisco, Corporate Travel Management, DB Schenker, First Eagle Investments, Macquarie Group and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

But while United continues to invest in both SAF and its producers, its newly-signed commercial partner, Dubai-based Emirates, has expressed doubts that there will be sufficient SAF available to power long-haul flights, which account for most of its operations. This week, at the Arabian Travel Market, a major trade show staged in Dubai, the airline’s CEO, Sir Tim Clark, said fossil fuels would, “for the time being”, remain the dominant energy source for long-haul flights.

In answer to media questions about aviation’s efforts to decarbonise, Clark said there was insufficient funding to produce affordable or sufficient volumes of SAF, echoing continuing global concerns about the continuing high cost of the fuel. “The notion that sustainable aviation fuel is going to crack this terrible nut in the next few years is going to be a very difficult one to answer,” he replied. “We’ve got the tech to do it, but globally the funding is not there to industrialise.”

His comments follow the test flight in January from Dubai of an Emirates Boeing 777 with one of its two GE90 engines powered by 100% SAF, as part of a proof-of-concept demonstration performed in partnership with Boeing, GE Aerospace, Honeywell and two renewable fuel companies, Neste and Virent (see article). The event was described as a key initiative of the ‘Year of Sustainability’ declared by the United Arab Emirates, ahead of Dubai’s hosting later this year COP28 and ICAO’s third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3).

Photo: United Airlines

United Airline’s recently-launched UAV Sustainable Flight Fund has made its first investment: $5 million in algae biofuel company Viridos, which is using bioengineering technology to convert saltwater algae into sustainable, low-carbon jet and diesel fuel. In total, the California-based company, formerly known as Synthetic Genomics, has raised $25 million in a Series A equity investment round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and joined by Chevron and United Airlines Ventures (UAV). The funding will be used for R&D to further increase algae oil productivity to reach commercially deployable levels. Viridos claims its bioengineering of microalgae has already achieved seven times the oil productivity compared to wild algae and says sustainable aviation fuel made from its oil is expected to have a 70% reduced carbon footprint. Over a decade ago, algae was touted as a highly promising SAF feedstock and was used in both commercial and military aircraft demonstration flights but fell out of favour over difficulties in scaling up the technology and poor economics.

However, Viridos says its technology, when combined with optimised production processes and systems, will enable large-scale algae production that far exceeds any traditional oil crop and achieve high algae oil output in comparatively small areas. The algae are grown in vessels containing seawater, which allows for contained deployment in hot and dry locations without taxing scarce freshwater and arable land resources. The company claims the algae have “extremely high” oil content and of a quality that allows existing biorefineries to process the oil with high yields.

Last year, Viridos was one of eight successful applicants to be awarded a California Competes Grant, which aims to incentivise businesses to choose California for investment and to stimulate the creation of quality, full-time jobs in the state. The company said the grant would allow it to create 70 high-paying professional jobs and bring nearly $75 million in investment to the Imperial Valley area in Southern California, where Viridos has an outdoor pilot programme, the California Advanced Algal Facility.

“By establishing production sites to grow Viridos-engineered microalgae in saltwater, we are creating the foundation for a biofuel future that moves away from fossil fuels without competing for precious resources such as fresh water and arable land,” commented Viridos CEO Oliver Fetzer. “We are excited to have the support from BEV, Chevron and United Airlines. Together, we can build the ecosystem needed to bring algae biofuels to the market. We look forward to bringing our oil-producing algae to commercial readiness and then growing them to produce scalable quantities of SAF and renewable diesel.”

Responded Breakthrough Energy Venture’s Carmichael Roberts: “Oliver and his team have a promising technology for converting algae into sustainable liquid fuels. The science behind their platform positions them to crack the code on the critical barriers to scale, making Viridos an important addition to our portfolio.”

BEV is a group of investors led by Bill Gates that has raised more than $2 billion in capital to invest in over 90 climate technology companies that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gases at scale. These include Heart Aerospace, the Swedish electric airplane maker, in which United Airlines has also made an investment as well as ordering 200 of its ES-19 aircraft, and ZeroAvia, which is developing hydrogen-electric powertrains for regional aircraft.

To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF, which the airline says is the most by any airline in the world.

“As the global aviation leader in SAF production investment, United remains committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets,” said Mike Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures. “Viridos’ algae-based biofuel technology has the potential to help solve our supply problem without the need for farmland or other agricultural resources and marks our inaugural investment in our new cross-industry UAV Sustainable Flight Fund.”

A year before its merger with United, Continental Airlines became the first US carrier to conduct a demonstration flight using sustainable aviation fuels when in January 2009 a Boeing 737-800 flight used a 50% blend of an algae-based (it was mixed with oil from the jatropha plant) fuel in one of its engines. In June 2011, the US Navy demonstrated a 50% blend of algae-based jet fuel produced by Solazyme, which was followed that November by a United Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago on a 40% blend of Solazyme’s algal jet fuel, so becoming the first US commercial flight powered in part by algae-based biofuel.

However, hopes of a breakthrough at the time in the use of algae as a SAF feedstock did not materialise. In 2016, Solazyme changed its name to TerraVia, with a change of focus away from fuels to food, nutrition and personal care, before filing for bankruptcy protection the following year. Sapphire Energy, another US algae-based company, supplied its Green Crude oil for the 2009 Continental flight. In 2019, it sold off its Integrated Algal BioRefinery to Green Stream Farms, which used it to grow algae for use in nutritional products and livestock feed.

“The story of algae-based SAF offers an interesting case study in the kind of obstacles that have delayed the decarbonisation of aviation,” says a blog by industry body the Algae Biomass Organization. “A decade ago, there was a frenzy of interest in algae for fuel that stirred up investments and lofty promises by a number of startups – all based on very exciting, but also preliminary, technical analysis of how efficiently algae could be used to turn sunlight, water and fertiliser into fuel. Unfortunately, those promises gave way to delays, then frustration, and finally outright scepticism on whether the fuels would ever work.

“Yet over the past ten years, the algae industry has quietly been overcoming the hurdles. There has been no single breakthrough to make headlines. Instead, dozens of new innovations across the board have improved efficiencies, streamlined processing and boosted production facilities. This iterative technical progress is showing real results. The emergence of algae as a highly productive, innovative agricultural crop offers an opportunity of scalability and carbon efficiency that is poised to make a dent.

“Beyond pure yield, the biomass composition of algae feedstocks, with over 50% of its weight as carbon, becomes an attractive feedstock for the production of fatty acid and ethanol-derived SAF. Based on a recent resource and sustainability assessment of nationwide algae production potential, projections estimate that over 20 billion gallons of SAF could be produced across a collection of 1,000 large algae farms, considering highly productive agricultural deployment across non-arable land.”

Photo: In 2011, United Airlines operated the first commercial flight to use algae in its fuel

Christopher Surgenor

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The start of 2023 has been a challenging time for US sustainable aviation fuel startup Alder Fuels as it undergoes changes following the sudden departure of its founder and CEO Bryan Sherbacow. Following a new multimillion-dollar injection of funding from its existing investors, the company has now reorganised its operations, personnel and partnerships, and is focusing its resources on commercial deployment and certification of its Alder Greencrude (AGC) technology. Industry veteran Sherbacow, who the Alder board said had “engaged in questionable financial transactions that benefited him personally”, has been replaced by Acting CEO Tim Obitts. In positive news for the company, Alder has received a Phase 1 Grant Award of $2 million from the US Department of Energy, its third award, to support the engineering design of the company’s first demonstration-scale plant, which is expected to be located in the US Southeast. Investors in Alder include United Airlines and business aviation fuel and services provider Avfuel, who also have offtake purchase agreements in place for 1.5 billion and 1 billion gallons of SAF respectively over 20 years.

In a statement, a bullish Xavier Adserà, Chairman of Alder Fuels and CEO of London-based private equity firm Adequita Capital, commented: “With multiple DOE grants awarded, strong leadership, multimillion-dollar investments, significant strategic partners and a commercial path forward, Alder’s enormous potential is clear. Once commercialised, Alder’s proprietary technology will play a pivotal role in decarbonising and defossilising critical parts of our economy. The Board and its investors are committed to the company’s success.”

The statement added: “To our friends and colleagues whose roles were directly affected by this reorganisation of operations at Alder Fuels, we thank you for your commitment to the company. You executed your work diligently, with a belief that our mission is bigger than any one individual. Without doubt, you have made this company and our culture better, and we are grateful for your time with us.”

Among the casualties of the reorganisation is Chief Sustainability Officer Nancy Young, who has now left the company. Young was previously VP Environmental Affairs for trade association Airlines for America (formerly the Air Transport Association of America) for 14 years. During this period, she served on working groups at the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative and at ICAO, as well as on the Board of the aviation industry’s Air Transport Action Group.

Sherbacow co-founded AltAir Fuels, a retrofitted refinery in Paramount, California, producing renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel, in 2010 and stayed on as Chief Commercial Officer when the company was taken over by World Energy in 2018. The facility was the world’s first commercial-scale renewable jet fuel plant and began supplying regular deliveries in 2015 to United Airlines.

Obitts took up the role of Acting CEO last month, having joined Alder as Chief Legal Officer early last year. He was previously President & CEO of the National Transportation Association, a US trade body made up of over 3,700 companies. “At Alder, we remain focused on a singular goal: to deliver commercial deployment of our proprietary Alder Greencrude technology,” he said following his appointment.

The Alder technology is based on already commercially viable and validated fast pyrolysis in which woody biomass is converted to a green biocrude that can then be co-hydroprocessed with esters and fatty acids (HEFA) within existing refinery infrastructure to produce a sustainable aviation fuel rich in cyclo-paraffins and aromatics. The company says the SAF properties have exceptional energy density, reduced sooting tendency and polymer seal swell, so enabling a 100% blend. Partners involved in developing the technology include Honeywell UOP (another investor in the company), BTG Bioliquids, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Washington State University, RPD Technologies, Boeing and others.

“At Alder and with our partners, our technology team has worked tirelessly to advance AGC production and hydrotreating from the lab to pilot scale using a rigorous ‘stage gate’ development process,” said Derek Vardon, Chief Technology Officer at Alder. “We simply would not have been able to advance AGC without the support of these technologists and industry-leading experts.”

Last October, Alder selected BTG’s proprietary fast pyrolysis technology for its first AGC processing facility at the so-far undetermined site in the US Southeast. BTG  develops production plants through its engineering, procurement and construction partner, TechnipEnergies. Fast pyrolysis bio-oil conversion of Alder’s feedstock has been completed at both BTG pilot and demonstration scale plants in the Netherlands, which has been shipped back to Alder’s laboratory and will be used for ASTM certification purposes.

As a result of a long-term, exclusive contract signed last September, Enviva will supply up to 750,000 tonnes per year of sustainably sourced woody biomass to Alder’s AGC facility when commercial production starts. Enviva says its feedstock adheres to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard and the two companies have committed to gaining sustainability certification under the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials standard.

Alder is currently pursuing ASTM certification, a critical next step for the company as its technology is not among the seven technology pathways so far approved as a drop-in, alternative jet fuel. “The preliminary datasets related to fuel properties are encouraging,” a company spokesperson told GreenAir. “They suggest we may be able to enter the so-called ‘Fast Track’ approach to certification, which can take 12-18 months and would be significantly faster than the standard path that can take years. We haven’t received formal approval as yet but we have been in discussions and are hopeful it will come this year. We are confident the technology works.

“It is important to note that even without ASTM certification, AGC can be used to make renewable diesel and marine fuel, as well as green chemicals.”

Five of the pathways that have been approved so far under the ASTM D4054 process are required to be blended with petroleum-based jet fuel up to a 50% maximum level, with the other two requiring a maximum 10% level. The blend percentage for each concept that goes through the D4054 Fast Track is currently limited to 10%.

An attractive feature of the Alder Greencrude product is that as a result of pyrolysis, it retains aromatics that are necessary for seal swell in jet engines. A major reason for the 50% maximum blend limit in the present approved pathways is that the technologies employed produce SAF with no aromatic content. To achieve a 100% sustainable aviation fuel therefore requires an additional synthetic aromatic kerosene content and so the Alder product with its cyclo-paraffins has a potential distinct advantage over other SAFs, while also avoiding some of the downsides of aromatics, such as the generation of excess particulates.

“In theory, we could make a 100% SAF but we’re not pursuing it yet as ASTM has not finalised how they are going to qualify 100% SAF,” said the spokesperson. “We are looking at the Fast Track process and will hopefully get certification within 18 months. Once we have it, we’ll decide on the next level of certification, whether it’s 100% SAF or we look for a higher blending level.”

With discussions still ongoing with states and counties on the exact location for the demonstration-scale plant, the company is not yet ready to disclose when construction will start and does not expect completion within the next two years. The facility will be rated to process 120 dry tonnes per day of forest residuals and produce 3 million gallons per year of liquid hydrocarbon biofuel, of which 2 million gallons will be SAF.

“We are still focused on project development and AGC pilot testing to inform engineering for commercial-scale production. We will have more to share on our revised delivery timeline in the coming months,” he reported. “The focus, for now, is resolutely on achieving key technical milestones that further de-risk our production process and get us to the next stage of growth.”

Photo: United Airlines

Christopher Surgenor

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In its largest direct investment in sustainable aviation fuels yet, United Airlines Ventures has formed a $50 million joint venture – Blue Blade Energy – with Tallgrass and Green Plains to develop and then commercialise a novel SAF technology that uses ethanol as its feedstock. If the technology, which has been developed by researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), proves successful then construction of a pilot facility is expected to proceed in 2024, followed by a full-scale facility that could begin commercial operations by 2028. Once operational, Blue Blade Energy has the potential to create United’s largest source of SAF by providing up to 135 million gallons annually, said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures, the airline’s corporate venture arm. As well as agreeing to purchase up to 2.7 billion gallons of SAF produced by the joint venture in total, United will assist with SAF development, fuel certification and into-wing logistics.

“The production and use of SAF is the most effective and scalable tool the airline industry has to reduce carbon emissions and United continues to lead the way,” said Leskinen. “This new joint venture includes two expert collaborators that have the experience to construct and operate large-scale infrastructure, as well as the feedstock supply necessary for success.”

The offtake agreement could provide for enough unblended SAF to fly more than 50,000 flights annually between United’s hub airports in Chicago and Denver, said the airline.

Under the collaboration, energy infrastructure company Tallgrass will manage research and development of the PNNL technology, including pilot plant development, and will manage the construction of the production facility.

“At Tallgrass, we are striving to innovate how we deliver the energy that powers our nation and enables our quality of life,” said Alison Nelson, VP Business Development. “Air travel uniquely connects people and improves lives, and the advancement of this novel SAF technology presents a meaningful opportunity to reduce emissions from aviation.”

If the technology is commercialised, Green Plains will supply the low-carbon ethanol feedstock for Blue Blade Energy from its Midwest ethanol production facilities. While the initial SAF facility intends to use ethanol, the technology has the capability to work with any alcohol-based feedstock as its feedstock, added the company.

Having started operations in Iowa in 2007, Omaha-headquartered Green Plains has 11 biorefineries throughout the United States, processing 300 million bushels of corn per year and capacity to produce nearly 1 billion gallons of low-carbon biofuels annually.

“Our transformation to a true decarbonised biorefinery model has positioned Green Plains to help our customers and partners reduce the carbon intensity of their products by producing low-carbon proteins, oils, sugars and now decarbonised ethanol to be used in SAF,” said the company’s CEO, Todd Becker. “The potential impact of this project is a gamechanger for US agriculture, aligning a strong farm economy and a robust aviation transport industry focused on decarbonising our skies.”

In September 2022, Green Plains, Tallgrass and PNNL were awarded funding from the US Department of Energy to support development of the PNNL technology, which converts cellulosic and corn ethanol to SAF via ketone intermediates. Green Plains and Tallgrass currently hold the option to exclusively license the technology globally.

“New alcohol-to-jet pathways are necessary to achieve the ambitious volume targets for SAF, and our rapidly-evolving biorefinery platform is well positioned to help meet and exceed these targets,” said Becker. “Our collaboration with Tallgrass and our work with PNNL on state -of-the-art technologies positions Green Plains at the forefront of SAF commercialisation, which is supported by the expansion of policy to economically develop and deploy novel SAF technology.”

Photo: United Airlines

United Airlines Ventures (UAV), the sustainability-focused investment vehicle of United Airlines, is investing up to $37.5 million in NEXT Renewable Fuels, a Houston-based company which is building a biofuels refinery in Port Westward, Oregon, and targeting production from 2026. The deal is the fifth investment made by United’s ventures fund in sustainable aviation fuels technology. The airline says it is the first direct investment by a major US carrier in a renewable fuel biorefinery. Subject to environmental approvals, the NEXT plant expects to produce up to 750 million gallons per year, or 50,000 barrels per day, of SAF, renewable diesel and other fuels. For UAV, a key attraction of the refinery, NEXT’s first project, is its proximity to multi-modal transport infrastructure, including a deepwater port and facilities, which provides easy access to fuel feedstock supplies and distribution to high-demand markets on the US West Coast, where multiple SAF supply deals have recently been signed with corporate, domestic and international air operators. 

Supplies of SAF are both scarce and expensive, currently costing at least three times as much as conventional aviation fuel. The US government, in its recently-released SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap, forecast domestic aviation demand for 3 billion gallons of SAF by 2030 and 35 billion gallons by 2050 – with just 5 million gallons produced last year – and announced a range of incentives to expedite the development of infrastructure and new renewable fuel types.   

“Right now, one of the biggest barriers to increasing supply and lowering costs of sustainable fuel is that we don’t have the infrastructure in place to transport it efficiently,” said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures. “NEXT’s strategic location and assets solve that problem and provide a blueprint for future facilities that need to be built. We believe this investment will not only bolster NEXT’s ambitions and create near-term solutions to expand our SAF supply, but further demonstrates our commitment towards producing SAF at the scale necessary to decarbonise the aviation industry.”

NEXT has an agreement with BP to source 100% of its feedstock for renewable fuels, significantly reducing supply risks faced by smaller facilities, and has received an air quality permit from the State of Oregon. Construction of the new plant is expected to begin once an Environmental Impact Statement is completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Once the facility is completed and operating, NEXT says it has potential to scale up SAF production and to deploy additional future technologies for renewable fuels.

“The clean fuels industry is taking off and our access to feedstocks, multi-modal distribution and major industry players positions us to be a leading SAF supplier of the West Coast,” said NEXT’s CEO, Christopher Efird. “United’s investment in NEXT strengthens our resolve to be one of the clean fuels leaders in the transportation sector.”

Scott Kirby, United’s CEO, has resisted the use of traditional carbon offsets in meeting its net zero by 2050 goal, preferring to decarbonise “not with flashy, empty gestures, but by taking the harder, better path of actually reducing emissions from flying.” Of UAV’s role as an aviation investment fund focused on sustainability and technology, Kirby said: “We realise there’s a limit to what a single company can do alone. That’s why we are continuing to seek opportunities to collaborate with other industries. We must reach across industries to develop coordinated efforts to accomplish what must be our collective goal of carbon neutrality.”   

Prior to the NEXT investment, which is subject to achievement of specific milestone targets, United or UAV had announced investments in or partnerships with emerging SAF developers and suppliers Fulcrum BioEnergy, Dimensional Energy, Cemvita Factory and Alder Fuels, as well as the Swedish electric plane manufacturer Heart Aerospace, hydrogen propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia and electric air taxi developers Archer and Eve Air Mobility.

The airline is also one of the biggest buyers of SAF, with multiple major offset deals, and last year became the first to operate a commercial flight with 100% SAF in one engine – a Boeing 737 Max 8 service from Chicago to Washington DC. As well, through its Eco-Skies Alliance programme, 30 of the airline’s corporate customers have collectively purchased more than 7 million gallons of SAF to further help fund the fuel while offsetting the carbon emissions of their corporate air travel.

Image: United Airlines

Swedish electric aircraft pioneer Heart Aerospace has ditched its initial 19-seat ES-19 design in favour of an all-new 30-seat version with increased range and capacity. The ES-30 features a reserve-hybrid engine powered by sustainable aviation fuel, to provide extra energy or extended range without relying solely on battery power. Existing ES-19 customers United Airlines and Mesa Air Group have upgraded their 200 orders and 100 options to the larger ES-30, while Air Canada has announced purchase orders for 30 and Swedish aircraft leasing company Rockton has signed letters of intent for another 40. As well, Air Canada and the veteran Swedish aerospace company Saab have become minority shareholders in Heart, each investing $5 million. In the US, e-aircraft company Eviation has secured an LOI from Miami’s Global Crossing Airlines Group for 50 nine-seat Alice electric aircraft, whose prototype is set to make its maiden flight next month. Meanwhile, a study by Distrelec has identified Nordic routes with the highest potential for carbon emission reductions from electric flights.

The Heart ES-30 will feature three-abreast seating, a galley and a lavatory, as well as a large external baggage and cargo compartment, exploiting improved zero-emission propulsion technologies to offer higher payloads and longer-range missions than previously anticipated for the first generation of electric commuter craft. It will offer a fully-electric range of 200 kilometres, an extended range of 400 kilometres with 30 passengers, and the ability to fly as far as 800 kilometres with 25 passengers.

“The ES-30 is an electric airplane that the industry can actually use,” said Anders Forslund, founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace, highlighting the greater utility of the larger variant, which will be assembled in Gothenburg, Sweden. “We have designed a cost-effective airplane that allows airlines to deliver good service on a wide range of routes. With the ES-30 we can start cutting emissions from air travel well before the end of this decade, and the response from the market has been fantastic.”

As well as being a Heart Aerospace customer, United Airlines is also an investor. “From the beginning, Heart and United have been on the same page with an acute focus on safety, reliability and sustainability,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. “Heart’s exciting new design, which includes expanded passenger capacity from 19 to 30 seats, and a state-of-the-art reserve-hybrid engine, is the type of revolutionary thinking that will bring true innovation to aviation.”

Michael Rousseau, CEO of new customer and investor Air Canada, added: “We have been working hard with much success to reduce our footprint, but we know that meeting our net zero emissions goals will require new technology such as the ES-30.”

Saab’s new CEO Micael Johansson said his company’s investment in Heart “underlines our commitment to innovative technology and solutions for sustainable aviation. Heart is a pioneer within commercial electric aviation and we look forward to contributing to the future of aviation with our experience of developing solutions at the forefront of technology.” 

Other investors in Heart Aerospace include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, EQT Ventures, European Investment Council, Lower Carbon Capital, Mesa Air Group and United Airlines Ventures.

In addition to firm orders for the new aircraft and the letter of intent from Rockton, Heart Aerospace said many operators that previously signed LOIs for the ES-19 had now upgraded to the ES-30, among them Braathens Regional Airlines, Icelandair, SAS and New Zealand’s Sounds Air. There are now 96 LOIs for the ES-30, which is expected to enter commercial service in 2028 as a zero-emission replacement for existing fossil-fuelled aircraft or to accommodate regional growth.

Its launch coincides with a soaring and competing trend to retrofit older commuter planes with new electric or hydrogen propulsion systems, for which significant orders have been secured by start-ups including ZeroAvia and Universal Hydrogen, both well-backed by major industry players and venture capital investors.

In another electric aircraft development, Miami-based Global Crossing Airlines Group, trading as GlobalX, has signed a letter of intent to acquire 50 all-electric Alice aircraft from US-based Eviation, for delivery from 2027. The inaugural test flight of the Alice prototype is expected to occur next month.

“We plan to offer the aircraft to our cruise line, tour operators, leisure travel providers and business clients with a need for short-haul charter flights across Florida,” said GlobalX CEO Ed Wegel. “The Alice aircraft will allow us to offer sustainable regional flights to and from major markets and is the first step in our initiative to be a zero-carbon emissions airline by 2050.” As well as flights within Florida, GlobalX says the nine-seat aircraft will open opportunities for new passenger routes in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The company is also evaluating a cargo version of the aircraft, which has also been ordered by freight giant DHL.

In Europe, the electronics and automation group Distrelec has completed a study of flights operating in Nordic countries to identify which markets have the most potential for electric-powered flights. It identified routes in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland, which, if converted to zero emission aircraft, could eliminate a combined total of more than 61,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per month, equivalent to 773 aircraft each with a maximum take-off weight of 79,000 kilograms – roughly equivalent to an Airbus A320neo.

The study found that Norway had the greatest potential to reduce flight carbon emissions, with up to 29,038 tonnes likely to be eliminated each month through deployment of electric aircraft, followed by Sweden with 17,260 tonnes, Finland with 6,264, Denmark with 4,177, Greenland with 2,390, and Iceland with 1,994.

Norway’s Oslo-Trondheim air route was identified by Distrelec as the biggest contributor to aircraft carbon emissions in the surveyed markets, with 709 monthly flights averaging 58 kilograms per passenger, while Finland’s Helsinki-Oulu route, while less flown with an average 264 monthly departures, produced the highest CO2 emissions per passenger, averaging 72 kilograms.

The study also assessed 10 regional international routes originating in Nordic countries, which it estimated produced a collective 17,100.5 tonnes of CO2 per month, or 205,206 annually, the equivalent of 2,597 aircraft with a 79,000-kilogram maximum take-off weight.

Image: Heart Aerospace ES-30 in Air Canada livery

United Airlines Ventures (UAV) has announced an investment in New York-based Dimensional Energy, the airline group’s fourth move into sustainable aviation fuel production, and its first into power-to-liquid (PtL) technology, in which carbon dioxide is transformed into SAF. United has also agreed to purchase at least 300 million gallons of SAF from Dimensional over 20 years, adding to multiple existing agreements that the airline claims add up to the biggest collective SAF commitment by any airline. The deal caps off a flurry of fresh SAF announcements across the US, from Hawaii to New York, as the air transport industry intensifies efforts to cut its carbon emissions. A project involving Delta Air Lines and Neste is now delivering SAF through fuel pipeline systems direct to New York LaGuardia. Meanwhile, there have been renewed calls from across the US aviation sector for greater government incentives to expedite and increase the availability of affordable supplies of SAF, reports Tony Harrington.

Dimensional Energy converts carbon dioxide and water into usable ingredients for the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process that can turn those elements and others into liquid fuels. While this system has been widely used to create fossil fuels, Dimensional claims it will be one of the first to produce sustainable aviation fuels from the process. Last year, the company’s activities attracted funding from climate technology investor Elemental Excelerator, through which it was introduced to United, which wants to cut emissions directly rather than through offsets.

“Sometimes you have to look to the past to solve new problems and we recognise that decarbonising air travel is going to require combining proven technologies, such as Fischer-Tropsch, with the latest advances in science and engineering,” said United Airlines Ventures President Michael Leskinen. “As we grow our portfolio of companies like Dimensional, we are creating opportunities to scale these early-stage technologies and achieve United’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, without the use of traditional carbon offsets.”

UAV has already invested in SAF producer Alder Fuels, from which United Airlines will acquire up to 1.5 billion gallons of SAF, while United itself has bought into Fulcrum Bioenergy, together with an option to buy up to 900 million gallons of SAF. As well, UAV recently invested in Cemvita Factory, a US-based synthetic biology company which is planning SAF production.

Dimensional says it can transform carbon dioxide from sources including direct emissions from industrial sites, direct air capture and biological paths including fermentation and biomass gasification, providing United with some protection from the constraints of feedstock availability affecting other biofuel pathways. Last year, in Tucson, Arizona, the company began constructing a CO2-to-fuels facility, part-powered by locally-produced renewable energy, and expects to begin operating next month.

”United’s support of sustainable aviation fuel made from captured emissions is an important step in the aviation industry’s pursuit of carbon neutrality,” said Jason Salfi, CEO and joint founder of Dimensional Energy. “We envision a world run on truly conflict-free energy that can scale to meet the global demand for hydrocarbon fuels and feedstocks.”

Meanwhile, competitor Delta Air Lines was one of four participants in a milestone project to deliver the first supplies of SAF to New York’s LaGuardia Airport using existing infrastructure. The fuel was processed in Texas by waste-to-SAF producer Neste, then transported via the Colonial and Buckeye pipeline systems to the airport to power a Delta flight. “SAF is the most effective tool we have to decarbonise our industry,” said Delta’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Pamela Fletcher. “These efforts show how existing infrastructure can be used to transport SAF to east coast airports and drive down emissions, a critical step as we move toward a more sustainable future for air travel.”   

The fuel was loaded by Neste into the Colonial Pipeline and pumped almost 1,500 miles to New Jersey, where it was transferred into the Buckeye Pipeline which feeds LaGuardia Airport. “The US east coast is home to some of the USA’s busiest airports and the vast majority of them get their fuel from the Colonial Pipeline system and, in New York, the Buckeye Pipeline system,” added Chris Cooper, Neste’s VP of Renewable Aviation in the Americas. “What we’re doing here is showing that just around the corner is a future where passengers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, up to LaGuardia, JFK (Kennedy Airport) and EWR (Newark Airport) can board a plane flying on SAF.”

Delta and Neste have called for additional government policy settings and supply chain incentives in the US to increase production pf SAF, while driving down its cost. Announcing the LaGuardia initiative, they said: “A SAF Blender’s Tax Credit, for example, that is technology and raw material-neutral, will even the playing field between SAF and fossil jet fuel. At the state level, a Low Carbon Fuel Standard with voluntary opt-in provisions for SAF will provide a policy framework with a proven track record to incentivise SAF production and speed the development of cleaner infrastructure, supporting healthier environments for our communities.”

In Los Angeles, alongside the IX Summit of the Americas, at a roundtable event they hosted on sustainable air transport, industry body IATA and Boeing also ramped up pressure on governments to support SAF production with incentives.

”To reach the industry’s net zero goal, governmental support is critical to developing policies that efficiently accelerate the commercial production and deployment of SAF,” said Peter Cerdá, IATA’s Regional VP for the Americas.

Landon Loomis, Boeing’s VP Latin America, Caribbean and Global Policy, added: “The message from the experts at the roundtable is clear. In addition to a sector-wide partnership, it takes policy commitments, technology deployment and infrastructure efficiency improvements to achieve the industry’s commitment to reach decarbonisation by mid-century.”

Corresponding with the event, Boeing and seven airlines – Aeromexico, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, COPA Airlines, Delta, United and WestJet – collectively bought 100,000 gallons of SAF (379,000 litres) from World Energy to part-power flights from Los Angeles International Airport, collectively cutting their CO2 emissions by around 472,000 pounds (214.3 tonnes).

In a message to the roundtable, John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said: “Reducing emissions from hard to decarbonise sectors like aviation is essential to tackling climate change. I am encouraged by the commitment of airlines worldwide to scale up the use of sustainable aviation fuels, which have the potential to not only significantly reduce emissions in-sector but also to provide economic opportunity.”

As part of its 2022 ecoDemonstrator programme, Boeing will fly one of its own 777-200ER aircraft using a 30/70 SAF blend for all test flights. During the next six months of flight and ground tests, Boeing will evaluate around 30 new technologies aimed at improving sustainability and safety for the aerospace industry, including a water conservation system to reduce aircraft weight and fuel, and technologies to improve operational efficiency.

Separately in Honolulu, Hawaiian Airlines announced a partnership with Par Hawaii, one of the state’s largest energy providers, to explore the viability of developing SAF in the islands from sustainable crops, while in Houston, Texas, renewable energy start-up No Carbon Air announced plans to produce sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen fuel, and other green energy sources through Fischer-Tropsch conversion of landfill materials including municipal solid waste, hazardous materials, tyres, waste coal, sludges and other waste streams. The company’s CEO, Bill Smith, said the waste, once converted to synthetic gas, would be processed through an FT system capable of producing 3,000 gallons of sustainable jet fuel per day, or 1 million gallons per year.

Photo: United Airlines