{"id":359360,"date":"2024-03-12T14:28:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T17:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/saf-a-solution-to-cut-aviation-emissions\/"},"modified":"2024-03-23T17:06:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T20:06:14","slug":"saf-a-solution-to-cut-aviation-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/saf-a-solution-to-cut-aviation-emissions\/","title":{"rendered":"SAF: A solution to cut aviation emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The number of planes<\/strong> in the sky is expected to nearly double in the coming decades, passenger demand is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, but the net greenhouse gas emissions in aviation will have to zero, thus going in the contraflow of the industry growth. The star of this change should be a very well-known player \u2013 fuels. Investments<\/strong> in the industry have been directed into the sustainable aviation fuel, known as SAF, which is made from various sources, and emits 80% less carbon dioxide compared to aviation kerosene. (Pictured above, a Boeing aircraft being filled with SAF.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The reason for this rerouting in the growth of carbon dioxide<\/strong> emissions is to make the industry reach the goal that was set forth by the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aimed to limit global warming to 1.5C. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the industry was responsible for roughly 2% of total global CO2 emissions in 2022, a pandemic year, when flights were 80% of the conventional level.<\/p>\n

Projections by airline trade group Iata<\/strong>\u00a0indicate that by 2025, 381 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will no longer be emitted by the industry. Of these, 97% will come from emission compensations, and 2% from the use of SAF. These percentages will gradually change so that the share of net-zero emission sources and emission compensations will grow by 2050, when SAF is expected to account for 65% of the emission reductions in a year when the industry estimates that 8.1 billion dioxide emissions will no longer be emitted into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

According to Iata figures, SAF <\/strong>production is expected to reach 8.1 billion liters by 2025 and 449 billion liters by 2050. SAF sources are many \u2013 waste cooking oil, urban waste, agricultural waste, sugar-containing plants, and others.<\/p>\n

But to get into aircraft fuel tanks, SAF has to meet an important requirement \u2013 it must have the same traits of aviation kerosene so that the aircraft engines don\u2019t have to be adapted and that their operation is not compromised.<\/p>\n

SAF is already in existence and has been used in commercial flights but still at a very low scale compared to the challenge and the industry\u2019s need of decarbonization. Costs and final prices have been the main challenges to implement it. According to Latam<\/strong> Brasil Sustainability manager L\u00edgia Sato, SAF has a \u201chuge\u201d potential to boost the decarbonization agenda. But she points out that the SAF output currently meets just 0.15% of the global demand, and its cost is five times the conventional jet fuel\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Jorge Eduardo Leal Medeiros, a professor of Air Transport and Airports at the Polytechnic School of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) and pilot, says that approximately 40% of the costs for an airline are from fuels, which costs an average of BRL 3.50 a liter (USD 0.70). Tanks of competing single-aisle aircraft like Boeing 737 MAX 8 or Airbus A320neo can contain approximately 26,000 liters of fuel. The Boeing can accommodate 162 to 178 passengers in two classes, and Airbus 150 to 180, according to the technical specifications of the manufacturers.<\/p>\n

The industry invests in research, and Iata encourages the pursuit of new aircraft models and energy sources like electric and hydrogen, but they aren’t projected to fuel large aircraft within the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way you can substitute planes now. They have a great importance for the economic development, and there will be no hydrogen or electric technology for planes in the short term. There\u2019s interest in eVTOL, but it\u2019s still small,\u201d says Medeiros. eVTOL stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, which have started being tested. One company investing in this segment is Brazil\u2019s Embraer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Latam: SAF offers opportunities for Brazil and the industry, but clear policy is required. The company has already made flights fueled by it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One the world\u2019s leading aircraft manufacturers, Boeing has also invested in new technologies for the use of new materials, aerodynamics, or motor operation. Ot\u00e1vio Cavalett, Global Sustainability Policy and Partnerships Regional Lead for Latin America at Boeing<\/strong>, says that the industry\u2019s main challenges are \u201cmaterializing these decarbonization initiatives that are already available,\u201d like fleet renewal and the use of SAF.<\/p>\n

More efficient planes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNumbers show that the new planes delivered now can reduce emissions by around 20% to 30% compared to the older models that they are substituting. So, yes, fast-tracking the fleet renewal is a very important move to be pursued for decarbonizing the industry,\u201d he says. However, Cavalett adds, decarbonization will only occur if all \u201cstakeholders\u201d\u00a0 unite towards this goal \u2013 the academy, governments, energy companies, and airlines, the latter still recovering from the effects of the pandemic that crippled the industry in 2020.<\/p>\n

Latam uses both Airbus and Boeing aircraft in their fleet. The Airbus <\/strong>models like A319, A320 and A321 are used for domestic flights or short distances in South America. On the other hand, Boeing\u2019s larger models like 767, 777 and 787 are used for long-distance routes. Sato says that the company constantly invests in fleet renewal, and that the more efficient models consume up to 25% less fuel, and that in 2023 15 new places started operating in Brazil \u2013 seven A321neo and eight A320neo. (Neo<\/em> being Greek for \u201cnew\u201d, as well as an acronym for \u201cnew engine options\u201d. The neo family was launched in 2014.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fleet\u2019s newer aircraft are already prepared to be fueled by SAF. All it takes is the sustainable fuel to be both available and affordable in the air sector. Moreover, we worked with the drop-in model, so we don\u2019t have to make structural adjustments in our aircraft to fly using SAF,\u201d said Sato.<\/p>\n

The company has already used SAF in its flights. \u201cIn 2022, we announced our pledge to try to use 5% of SAF in our operations by 2030, with its production being mandatory in South America. In March 2023, we made our first international flight with SAF, connecting Spain and North America. Last July, we received an Airbus A320neo that used 30% of SAF in its delivery flight from Toulouse [France] to Fortaleza [Brazil], and in October an A321neo using 49% of this fuel from Hamburg [Germany] to Fortaleza. These are signs that we have given the market saying that there is demand and interest in obtaining high-quality SAF on a large scale and within the technical requirements,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
CNI\u2019s Gomes: SAF offers social and economic development potential, but there are challenges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the matter of costs, Sato says, is crucial for the industry\u2019s sustainability. \u201cOne of the main challenges for the aviation industry\u2019s sustainable growth is not to increase costs to the point that it prevents people from accessing air transport or limit the connectivity of a continent-sized country like Brazil,\u201d she says. She argues in favor of establishing a regulatory framework to decarbonize the industry, legal certainty for investments, and \u201cappropriate\u201d incentives and tax treatment.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s potential<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jefferson Gomes, Technology and Innovation Director at industry group CNI<\/strong>, believes SAF is one of the paths for decarbonizing<\/strong> aviation, and that some places do have a huge potential in producing and exporting it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay the sert\u00e3o in northeastern Brazil use sisal as a SAF input? Yeah, they may. Poverty there is huge, social vulnerability is huge, economic development is bad, and the resource abounds. The topography is good, solar incidence is high. You can make SAF, and you can make hydrogen<\/strong>. You can use the same reasoning for nitrogen fertilizer \u2013 when market is bad for SAF, you drift from that towards some other thing,\u201d he says about the potential of this new frontier for sustainability.<\/p>\n

However, Gomes says there are places that don\u2019t have available raw materials aplenty or even ready availability of the product. \u201cI believe SAF is a fantastic solution, but it will always account for some share, because making common kerosene is very cheap,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sato, for her part, mentions a study saying that Brazil is capable of manufacturing enough SAF to meet the domestic needs and be a major \u201cplayer in the export market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Translated by<\/strong> Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sustainable alternative fuel to kerosene already exists and will have an increasing participation in the industry, but high costs are a major obstacle for its use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":358568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[12676,7346,12675,27601,9994,27593,12328,4223,12959,31994,13778,7969,48086,31989,41759,594,28712],"class_list":{"0":"post-359360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-special-reports","8":"tag-airbus-en","9":"tag-aircraft","10":"tag-boeing-en","11":"tag-carbon-dioxide","12":"tag-cni-en","13":"tag-combustivel-en","14":"tag-embraer-en","15":"tag-fuel","16":"tag-iata-en","17":"tag-kerosene","18":"tag-latam-en","19":"tag-planes","20":"tag-polytechnic-school-of-the-university-of-sao-paulo","21":"tag-querosene-en","22":"tag-saf-en","23":"tag-technology","24":"tag-tecnologia-en-2"},"wps_subtitle":"A sustainable alternative fuel to kerosene already exists and will have an increasing participation in the industry, but high costs are a major obstacle for its use.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}