Bank of America has become the first financial institution to join the sustainable aviation fuel purchasing programme jointly established by Shell Aviation and American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT). The book-and-claim programme enables corporations to verifiably purchase SAF to compensate for the emissions created when their employees fly on company business. The bank has pledged to support the production and use of 1 billion gallons of SAF by 2030 and has committed to ensure SAF comprises at least 20% of the total jet fuel used each year in flights by its own staff and management. The new partnership coincides with an announcement by Shell that it will supply SAF to Japan Airlines in Los Angeles from 2025.

“By purchasing SAF, and working with other companies, we are taking more tangible steps to help build a more affordable and accessible sustainable aviation fuel market,” said Beth Sullivan, Bank of America’s Head of Global Corporate and Executive Travel.

The Amex GBT-Shell programme adopted by Bank of America is designed to connect airlines with corporations willing to help pay the premium charged for SAF, which is currently two-to-eight times the price of conventional fossil-based jet fuels. The programme uses the blockchain-powered Avelia book-and-claim platform, which leverages the Amex GBT base of over 19,000 clients in 140 countries, and accounts for SAF provided by Shell.

“The business travel sector has a critical role to play in scaling SAF and accelerating the decarbonisation of travel,” said the Amex GBT’s President, Andrew Crawley. “We will move closer to achieving these objectives with more companies like Bank of America making bold commitments and recognising the powerful role the corporate travel programme can play in achieving a company’s broader sustainability goals.”  

Participation by Bank of America in the programme follows multiple previous commitments by the bank to help catalyse the broader SAF market through financing, investment, capital markets and procurement. Its stated aim is to work with aviation fuel suppliers and other members of aviation’s energy ecosystem to help boost production of SAF, and support the development of distribution infrastructure through sustainable financing.

Among its commitments are a partnership with American Airlines to support the purchase of 3 million gallons of SAF over a three-year period, and a 10-year deal with SAF provider SkyNRG to support the production of 1.2 million gallons of SAF per year from 2025.  

The bank is also a founding member of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), a partner in two sustainability programmes of the World Economic Forum, ‘Clean Skies for Tomorrow’, and the ‘First Movers Coalition’, and a member of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a specialist investment vehicle established by tech billionaire Bill Gates to fund or invest in emergent technologies, including SAF, which help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The WEF was the catalyst for widespread commitments last year to accelerate SAF use to 10% by 2030. “Companies are moving from pledges to actual business practices,” said Lauren Uppink, the WEF’s Head of Climate Strategy. “This programme and Avelia represents the culmination of years of groundwork building the value chain to support the scaling of SAF, now operational. The theoretical is becoming real.”

Shell Aviation’s President, Jan Toschka, added: “It’s brilliant to see Bank of America leading the finance sector’s charge to decarbonise business travel through SAF. Corporations that choose to fly on SAF have the power to catalyse the scaling of this technology and accelerate decarbonisation across the aviation sector. It’s a fantastic opportunity for businesses to make aviation more sustainable.”

As well as supplying SAF for corporate purchasers, Shell is also upping its supplies to airlines, announcing an agreement to fuel Japan Airlines services in Los Angeles from 2025. Shell says it will provide JAL with SAF volumes of SAF “equivalent to its current estimated jet fuel uplifts in Los Angeles over the supply period.”

While the length of the period was not specified, JAL has committed that 1% of its total jet fuel from 2025 will be SAF, increasing to 10% of total use by 2030 as it strives to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Recently, JAL also set itself the 2030 target of reducing CO2 emissions by 10% compared to 2019 levels.

JAL’s Los Angeles commitment parallels moves by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to mandate 10% SAF use on international flights from Japan, effective from 2030. The proposal also will require fuel suppliers to provide product including a 10% SAF blend. Subject to review by a council of private and public sector members, the SAF blending mandate is expected to be formalised by March next year. 

Photo: Shell Aviation

Amidst a forecast that contracted volumes of sustainable aviation fuel under offtake agreements could double this year, four significant SAF initiatives have been announced in the first weeks of 2023. Japan’s two biggest airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, have signed identical memorandums of agreement with industrial group ITOCHU Corporation and Raven SR, a US-based renewable fuels company, for 10-year deals to buy SAF produced from solid waste. Meanwhile in Europe, Lufthansa Group subsidiary Brussels Airlines has purchased 2 million litres of blended product from SAF producer Neste, the first supplies of which have been pumped direct to Brussels Airport via NATO’s pipeline system. Another Lufthansa company, the logistics group time:matters, has also announced that from this month it will purchase SAF for all of its Sameday Air and On Board Courier services, which distribute time-sensitive shipments ranging from industrial supplies to medical consignments.

The SAF for the two Japanese airlines initially will be produced by Raven in California from 2025, through the non-combustible conversion of waste to synthetic fuel. The process will use a patented ‘Steam-CO2 reforming technology’ to convert feedstocks including green and organic waste, municipal solid waste and methane from the latter.

In parallel announcements, Raven said each of the airline agreements provided for an initial 50,000 tons of SAF supply in 2025, with annual incremental rises ratchetting to 200,000 tons in 2034. Future production would be expanded to additional international locations served by both airlines outside Japan.

“By utilising local and regional waste, Raven SR’s distributive model produces fuels closer to market demand, leading to greater decarbonisation and addressing environmental issues caused by waste in specific regions,” said the company, which is also a member of the advisory board of the 4Aircraft European Programme, an international partnership exploring the conversion of recycled CO2 to SAF. 

Tokyo-based ITOCHU, which is focused on sustainable technologies and industries, invested in Raven in August 2021 to jointly produce and sell renewable fuels worldwide, and introduced the company to both airlines. “ITOCHU will continue to contribute to the realisation of a recycling-oriented society,” the company said, “as well as the United Nations sustainable development goals through the stable supply of SAF to leading airlines in Japan.”

Japan Airlines said the agreement with ITOCHU and Raven, together with existing offtake agreements with US SAF producers Aemetis and Gevo, would enable it to replace 1% of its fuel by the 2025 financial year, and 10% by 2030. “In the current situation where SAF supply is limited, JAL will contribute to the popularisation and market expansion of SAF and promote carbon neutrality in aviation by demonstrating the need for SAF produced from a variety of feedstocks, including used cooking oil, tallow and biomass, as well as waste products.”

For All Nippon Airways, the new partnership adds to a 2020 agreement with ITOCHU to procure Neste SAF produced from waste fats and oils. “As part of our climate transition strategies, ANA is dedicated to being an industry leader with our environmental commitments,” said Hideo Miyake, the airline’s Executive VP responsible for procurement.”

In Belgium, Brussels Airlines, a member of the Lufthansa Group, announced the purchase of 2 million litres of fuel – 2,000 barrels, each of 1,000 litres – containing a 38% blend of Neste SAF. The first supplies were pumped direct to Brussels Airport on New Year’s Day from the fuel producer’s blending facility in Ghent, the first time SAF has been transferred to the airport using NATO’s Central Europe Pipeline System (CEPS).  The total volume of fuel acquired in this transaction is equivalent to the maximum fuel capacity of 73 Airbus A320ceo jets, of which Brussels Airlines has 17. The first batch of SAF was used to fuel “a symbolic first flight” from Brussels to Malaga.

“To achieve our climate goals, we will have to drastically increase the use of alternatives to fossil fuels in the coming years,” said Brussels Airlines CEO Peter Gerber. “Next to fleet renewal, sustainable aviation fuel is the most effective tool currently available to reduce emissions from air travel. The fact that we can now transport the sustainable aviation fuel from the blending facility all the way to our aircraft at Brussels Airport in a fast and environmentally-friendly way is an important step to increase the use of this type of fuel in the near future.”

Brussels Airport is targeting 5% SAF in its kerosene imports by 2026, four years ahead of the same target by the EU. Within Project Stargate, a sustainable aviation initiative led by the airport, and engaging 22 stakeholders, a large-scale SAF blending plant was being explored, but is no longer necessary now that supplies can be pumped directly via the NATO pipeline. “This is an important milestone in making aviation more sustainable at Brussels Airport,” said its CEO, Arnaud Feist. “Having sustainable aviation fuel available at the airport has been a priority for us and we are pleased that, thanks to NATO’s support, this has now been realised.”

Neste welcomed this first use of the CEPS pipeline, Europe’s largest, to supply SAF to Brussels Airport and now expects increased use of the pipeline to supply other airports.

Also in Europe, Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary time:matters has committed to using SAF for all of its Sameday Air and On Board Courier services. In the past year, the global logistics business has offset 97% of its transport emissions, with the remaining 3% reduced through the use of SAF. By 2025, the company wants to reduce its own emissions by up to 50%, mainly by using SAF. The Sameday Air network covers 200 international destinations, and is supported by 21 participating airlines.

“There’s no alternative to sustainable logistics solutions,” said the company’s CEO, Alexander Kohnen. “As a logistics company, we’re contributing to climate change. At the same time, we consider the provision of time-critical transports a matter of life and death in some circumstances. Our focus is on three core activities. We will avoid potential emissions wherever possible, reduce current emission levels and offset unavoidable emissions. At the same time, we’re inviting our customers to act sustainably.”     

In its recent 2023 Outlook, international aircraft leasing company Avolon predicted the volume of SAF under offtake agreements by airlines will double from 40 billion litres of SAF to 80 billion this year.

Photo: Sho233531/Wikimedia

Japanese industrial group ITOCHU Corporation and Finnish renewable energy company Neste have announced collaborative agreements to help expedite the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel in Japan. Their commitments align with the Japanese government’s 2030 goal to replace 10% of all fossil aviation fuels with SAF. The companies have signed deals to provide SAF to Japan Airlines, initially for two test flights very shortly, and a separate MoU to explore further SAF supplies to the airline in 2023. Additionally, ITOCHU has been selected by the Japanese government to demonstrate blending in Japan of imported SAF with conventional jet fuel, in partnership with Fuji Oil Company. The blending will occur in January, and in February a portion of the mixed product will be tested in aircraft owned by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau. Meanwhile, Neste has agreed to supply Air France-KLM with more than 1 million tonnes of SAF over a period of eight years starting in 2023 and FBO Signature Aviation has expanded access to Neste’s SAF in California for business aviation users.

ITOCHU is a key partner in Japan’s plan to transition to SAF, and a local distribution partner for Neste. It intends to introduce commercial-scale domestic production of SAF. In October 2020 it facilitated the nation’s first SAF import, for use by All Nippon Airways, and last year was part of an industrial consortium which produced SAF from biomass materials. In February this year, ITOCHU expanded its alliance with Neste to provide SAF to Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, and is planning to supply other airports including Chubu Centrair in FY 2022 and Osaka’s Kansai International Airport in FY 2023.

Japan Airlines has committed to replacing 1% of its conventional aviation fuel with SAF by FY 2025, and 10% by 2030, and as a member of the oneworld airline alliance it has also signed future SAF offtake agreements in the US. Under its agreement with ITOCHU, JAL will use Neste SAF, mainly produced from waste fats, oils and greases, to part-power a “sustainable charter flight” on 18 November, in which it will fly from Haneda to Naha Airport, Okinawa, a 1,555-kilometre journey of just under two hours. Neste SAF will also be used shortly on a scheduled JAL flight from Los Angeles to Japan, though no details have been released of the volume to be used.

“The Airbus A350 aircraft, which emits 15-25% less CO2 than conventional aircraft, will be used to operate the sustainable charter flight,” said JAL. “By using sustainable aviation fuel and exercising JAL’s Carbon Offset, the flight will achieve net zero CO2 emissions.

“By the end of first quarter 2023, Neste plans to start SAF production at its Singapore plant, which is anticipated to have an annual production capacity of 1 million tonnes. JAL seeks to continue its cooperation with Neste and ITOCHU to procure SAF both globally and domestically.”

Beyond the JAL agreements, ITOCHU Corporation has also been chosen by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau to demonstrate the blending of imported SAF and conventional aviation fuel. “The aim of the project is to demonstrate the blending of imported neat SAF locally in Japan, which helps the country prepare for when significantly larger quantities of SAF will be needed to help the aviation industry achieve its ambitious emissions reductions goals,” said ITOCHU.

In its latest ESG report, the company’s President and COO, Keita Ishii, said ITOCHU would “aggressively promote businesses that contribute to global greenhouse gas reductions. We will contribute to resolving major social issues by promoting a decarbonised and recycling-based society, and by establishing a resilient value chain, including promoting sustainable raw materials procurement.”

Sami Jauhiainen, Neste’s VP Asia Pacific for Renewable Aviation welcomed the opportunity to support Japanese airlines and the Japanese government in targeting the replacement of conventional jet fuel with 10% SAF by 2030. “This demonstration project solicited by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau is an important step on the pathway towards realising that goal, as it demonstrates the blending of neat SAF with fossil jet fuel from a domestic refinery in Japan,” he said.

Last month, ITOCHU and Neste provided blended SAF to Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, for a series of flights from Narita to Abu Dhabi – the first non-Japanese airline to use the new supply. Etihad committed to take approximately 50,000 gallons of SAF, with the first of the Boeing 787-9 flights operating with a blend of just under 40%, and reducing carbon emissions by approximately 75.2 tonnes. As well as net zero emissions by 2050, Etihad has also committed to halving its 2019 emission levels by 2035.

Meanwhile, Neste has announced further supplies of its SAF product in Europe and the United States. In an expansion of its existing cooperation with Air France-KLM, Neste will supply the airline group with more than 1 million tonnes (1.26 billion litres) of SAF over a period of eight years starting in 2023. The SAF producer says it is one of the largest agreements of its kind in the aviation sector to date.

“This announcement marks a significant next step forward in our cooperation with Air France-KLM Group and underscores how we continue to support companies in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions,” said Neste CEO Matti Lehmus. “Neste aims to help customers cut emissions by at least 20 million tonnes of CO2e annually by 2030 with our renewable and circular solutions.”

Air France-KLM is looking to reduce its CO2 emissions per passenger/km by 30% by 2030 compared to 2019 – a target submitted to SBTi – and is aiming for a 10% incorporation of SAF by the same year. It has been working with Neste since 2019, with KLM being one of the first airlines to use Neste’s SAF.

“This landmark partnership with Neste is an important and concrete step towards the decarbonisation of our operations,” said Fatima da Gloria, VP Sustainability at Air France-KLM. “This contract embodies our long-term commitment to the development of SAF production capabilities around the world, to the benefit of the industry as a whole.”

In the United States, business aviation users now have greater access to SAF in California after the world’s largest network of Fixed-Base Operations (FBOs), Signature Aviation, announced it is to expand the availability of Neste’s SAF to all its 10 locations in the state. The two companies began a partnership in 2020 and under it they will deliver over 29 million gallons of 30/70 blended SAF, reducing over 62,000 tonnes of GHG emissions.

“Two years ago, we announced our first permanent supply of SAF for private aircraft in San Francisco. Since then, we’ve maintained a sharp focus on investing in the supply chain, collaborating with our customers and expanding availability with Neste,” said Beatrice Batty, Director Fuel Operations for Signature Aviation. “The result today is the 10 Californian locations that can decisively provide the solution to reducing private aircraft carbon emissions.”

The expanded availability is enabled by Neste’s growing capacity, said Neste. “SAF is recognised as the most effective way to reduce the GHG emissions from air travel and is an important solution to reach the business aviation industry’s pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” commented Chris Cooper, President of Neste US. “Together, Signature and Neste are meeting the industry’s growing demand by increasing the volumes and locations where customers can have easy access to SAF to achieve their bold climate goals.”

For Signature Aviation, the expanded availability of SAF in California represents a central objective of Signature Renew, its company-wide sustainability initiative. It is the first FBO worldwide to offer a permanent supply of SAF, with the option available for privately-operated aircraft at aviation service facilities in California, Colorado, Washington, Alabama, Texas and the United Kingdom.

Photo: Japan Airlines A350-900

Additional reporting by Christopher Surgenor

Two major industrial collaborations have been established in Japan to progress ambitions for large-scale production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in the country, writes Tony Harrington. In the first project, sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, six prominent corporations have joined forces to demonstrate the extraction of carbon dioxide from industrial exhaust gases, and its conversion into SAF as part of a broader plan to also drive regional revitalisation through carbon recycling. The second involving four major corporations, supported by the government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), will establish SAF commercial production by converting solid materials such as wood chips into fuel through a two-stage process of gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, following a recent successful trial by Japan Airlines of woody biomass fuel on a domestic flight. Meanwhile, an IBA report estimates fuel efficiency per seat/km on Japanese domestic flights has improved significantly, largely through deployment of next-generation aircraft.  

The CO2 recycling, or E-fuels project, brings together Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions Corporation, Toyo Engineering Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Idemitsu Kosan, Japan CCS and All Nippon Airways to establish and demonstrate a process to collect and separate CO2, then transform it into SAF. Subject to finalising a contract with Toyo, UK-based Velocys said its FT synthesis technology would be used to convert gas to SAF in the project. Velocys will also demonstrate the diversity of feedstocks such as sustainable waste and biomass that can be used in conjunction with the FT technology to create SAFs. The project is scheduled to commence this month and continue until the end of March 2025.

The parallel project to convert solid biomass to fuel will be undertaken by a consortium of Toyo Engineering Corporation, JERA, Mitsubishi Power and ITOCHU Corporation. Velocys said it would also partner with Toyo in this programme, again using FT technology and other processes to efficiently convert woody biomass into SAF.

Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn said the two projects highlighted the increasing momentum of the sustainable aviation fuel market. “Velocys is well-positioned to deliver its proprietary FT technology to biorefinery projects that convert a range of renewable feedstocks into the low carbon sustainable fuel that airlines need to meet their carbon reduction goals, without having to make any adjustment to engines or fuelling systems,” he said.  

Japan has long been a leader in the development and use of SAFs in the Asia Pacific region, and the government is intent on establishing large-scale domestic SAF production by 2030. The two biggest airline groups, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL), have both been continuously active for more than a decade in encouraging, testing and investing in alternative fuels, as part of their broader decarbonisation strategies.

Since 2009, when Japan Airlines performed Asia’s first proving flight using SAF manufactured from the non-edible crop camelina, the carrier has continued to test a variety of blends, and in 2018 even initiated a project to produce sustainable fuel based on cotton obtained from 250,000 discarded garments, the first time SAF was fully produced in Japan. In June this year, JAL became the first airline to use SAF developed from gasified wood chips, synthesised by the Velocys FT process. And together with two major Japanese partners, the airline has invested in US-based SAF manufacturer Fulcrum BioEnergy . 

ANA too has long been focused on decarbonising its operations and recently blended microalgae into the fuel on a domestic flight. It has also entered a global fuel offtake partnership with SAF provider LanzaTech and has partnered with Finland’s Neste to enable access to SAF developed from renewable waste and residue raw materials.

The complex stages of the CO2-to-SAF project have been divided between the six partners in the consortium, who will leverage their respective strengths as follows:

• Toshiba Energy Systems to build and demonstrate a full-scale carbon dioxide electrolysis unit prototype, and conduct a review for a Power-to-Chemicals (P2C) plant;
• Toyo Corporation to create plans for an FT synthesis plant and a P2C plant;
• Toshiba Corporation to demonstrate the CO2 technology;
• Idemitsu Kosan to investigate a SAF certification scheme and standards, and create the basic plan for a SAF blending facility and quality control;
• Japan CCS to study the P2C demonstration plant site and regional cooperation plan; and
• ANA to conduct a study of the SAF market and fuel supply at airports.

For the second project, Toyo Engineering Corporation said it would undertake basic design of an FT synthesising facility in Japan; JERA would study applicable regulations, feedstock procurement, methods of mixing neat SAF with conventional jet fuel, and business feasibility; Mitsubishi would undertake basic design of a gasification facility; and ITOCHU would research supply logistics of SAF, by-products and by-product markets.

Meanwhile, a new report by aviation data group IBA has identified a 13% decline in CO2 emissions per seat, per kilometre, on Japanese domestic flights between January 2019 and June 2021.

While just over half of the survey period was blighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and so impacting flight operations, IBA’s Senior Aviation Analyst Finlay Grogan, who authored the report, said the emissions reduction also reflected a tripling of the number of next-generation aircraft deployed on Japan’s domestic air routes.

The report said JAL had reduced emissions of its domestic flights by approximately 7% through deploying new Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-8 aircraft on high-capacity routes, replacing older, less-efficient Boeing 767-300s and 777-200s, the latter now retired by the airline.

Fleet renewal also enabled ANA and its low-cost division Peach to cut their emissions by more than 6% and 9% respectively through the introduction of Airbus A320neo jets to replace less-efficient A320ceo units, while ANA also exited older widebody jets.

ANA Wings was a standout in the IBA assessment, achieving a 13% cut in carbon emissions by replacing Boeing 737-500s with smaller, younger De Havilland Q400 turboprops.

The report said next-generation aircraft operated more than 16% Japanese internal flights in June 2021, compared to an average of just 5% through 2019, and said reductions would continue as the nation’s airlines continued to induct new narrowbody aircraft.

But beyond re-fleeting, Japan’s airlines have also reported significant additional emission reductions during the survey period from a range of operational initiatives including engine core washing, reduced use of auxiliary power units, optimised flight plans, continuous ascent and descent profiles, idle reverse thrust, single-engine taxi-in, optimised uplift of potable water supplies, the use of lightweight cargo containers, and even closing aircraft window shades while parked at airports to reduce the demand for air conditioning.   

Photo: ANA Wings achieved a 13% cut in carbon emissions by replacing Boeing 737-500s with De Havilland Q400 turboprops, says an IBA report

Japan’s two major airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL), each operated domestic commercial flights from Tokyo Haneda Airport on June 17 using sustainable aviation fuel produced in the country. The JAL flight, from Haneda to Sapporo used two different types of SAF in the jet fuel blend, one sourced from wood chips and the other from microalgae, while ANA used just microalgae in the fuel for its flight to Osaka Itami. The ASTM-certified SAF batches were produced under a project led by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), the Japanese national research and development agency. The JAL flight was the first in the world to use SAF derived from gasified wood chips synthesised into aviation fuel. It was produced in a Velocys Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor from the hydrogen and carbon gases generated by the gasification of the wood chips at a demonstration plant in Nagoya. A separate project between NEDO and IHI produced SAF for both flights from Hyper-Growth Botryococcus Braunii microalgae.

The fuels were produced under a project that ran from 2017 to 2020 with the aim of establishing technologies to produce inexpensive and reliable local commercial supplies of SAF by around 2030 to reduce aviation CO2 emissions. The NEDO project was tasked with finding ways to inexpensively collect algae with mass-culture technology and developing technology that stabilises the characteristics of gas for the gasification of wood chips.

The SAF derived from wood chips was produced under a collaboration by Toyo Engineering, Mitsubishi Power, JERA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The demo plant (see diagram below) was constructed on the premises of JERA’s Shin-Nagoya Thermal Power Station, which was also responsible for raw material procurement, with the technology supplied by Mitsubishi Power and Toyo Engineering, and JAXA evaluating and testing the jet fuel’s combustion characteristics. UK-based Velocys secured an agreement with Toyo in September 2019 to supply its FT technology, equipment and catalyst for the demo facility. It also agreed to grant an exclusive right for Toyo to secure and use the licence and technical services of its technology for a future commercial plant in Japan.

The facility, according to Velocys, produced 2,366 litres of neat aviation fuel blendstock that was tested to ensure it met the required ASTM D7566 Annex 1 international standard.

Commenting on the JAL flight, which the company says was the first commercial flight in the world to use wood chip derived jet fuel, Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn said: “SAF synthesised with Velocys FT technology from gasified forestry residue has a 70% lower carbon intensity than conventional fossil jet fuel. In addition, FT SAF offers significant additional air quality improvements, thanks to 90% lower particulate emissions, 99% lower sulphur emissions and lower nitrogen oxide emissions than conventional fossil fuels.”

Responded Toyo CEO Haruo Nagamatsu: “The Velocys technology demonstrated high efficiency and stable performance at the NEDO plant, and contributed to the production of high-quality SAF, green naphtha and green diesel.”

JAL carried out Asia’s first biofuel test flight in January 2009, using SAF made from the non-edible crop camelina. Since then, it has flown two flights from the United States to Tokyo using SAF in 2017 and 2019, and from June 2019 five delivery flights of new A350 aircraft from the Airbus plant in Toulouse have used SAF. In 2018, JAL launched a project to convert cotton clothing into locally produced SAF and in February this year operated the first domestic flight to use locally sourced SAF.

The airline is an investor in US SAF producer Fulcrum BioEnergy and is planning to use SAF on flights departing North America and says it is conducting a feasibility study with domestic companies on manufacturing and selling SAF in Japan made from waste plastic.

The SAF used on the Tokyo-Sapporo flight totalled 3,132 litres, including the microalgae-derived fuel, representing a 9.1% blend with conventional fuel. JAL says this was the first time two different types of SAF had been used on the same flight.

IHI’s microalgae project started in 2017 and algal culture tests have taken place in Kagoshima and Thailand. The fuel produced was approved in May 2020 under new Annex 7 of ASTM D7566, the first time a Japanese corporation as an applicant has obtained the international standard. The company said it would continue to study the formation of a supply chain for producing and supplying fuel from the feedstock, and aims to commercialise the fuel “as soon as possible”.

ANA announced in April a net zero emissions goal for 2050, with an interim 2030 target of carbon emissions from aircraft operations being less than or equal to 2019. The increased use of SAF “will be at the core” of CO2 emission reduction measures, said the airline. In 2019, ANA signed a SAF offtake agreement with LanzaTech, which was expanded in 2020 that gives it the opportunity to participate in a fuel offtake across LanzaJet’s global portfolio and production (see article). Last November also saw ANA signing an agreement with SAF producer Neste that included a first delivery of Neste SAF sourced from renewable waste and residue raw materials, which was used on ANA flights from Tokyo (see article).

Photo: JAL A350 readied for Tokyo-Sapporo SAF flight