Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is an alternative for petroleum-based jet (aviation) fuel, which is made in-part from biomass. Its production and use create significantly fewer emissions than petroleum-based jet fuel.

What is jet (aviation) fuel?

Like jet fuel, SAF is a mixture of different hydrocarbons which ratios can vary widely. Instead, its definition is based on its performance such as its flash point (octane), freezing point and viscosity. Kerosene-type jet fuels are common in North America and have carbon numbers between 8 and 16.

What makes SAF different?

While SAF is chemically very similar to jet fuel, its production process defines it from traditional jet fuel. Instead of being a refined petroleum product, SAF is produced using renewable biomass for its source of carbon. It can be made from several different biochemical and thermochemical processes, and can use many different types of biomass including forest and agricultural residues, saw mill waste, vegetable oils, algae, municipal solid or wet waste, and animal fats.

Depending on the process used to make SAF, other sources of renewable energy can be used to further reduce emissions such as renewable electricity, or hydrogen from electrolysis.

Source: Simply Blue Group

Sustainable aviation fuel production processes are regulated by the American Society of Testing and Materials and are constantly evolving to be more efficient and use different sources of biomass. Processes currently approved can be blended with petroleum-based jet fuel at prescribed ratios (between 5 percent and 50 percent) before being used in planes.

Currently, SAF is between 3 and 10 times more expensive than petroleum-based jet fuel. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency expects this cost to ‘reduce substantially’ as production increases.

What are the benefits of SAF?

There are several key benefits to SAF; it produces up to 80 percent (90 percent in some estimates) fewer CO2 emissions than petroleum-based jet fuel.

Transportation currently produces about 12 percent of global human-made CO2 emissions and the air transport industry is responsible for 2-3 per cent of total emissions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts SAF can “contribute around 65 percent of the reduction in emissions needed by aviation to reach net-zero in 2050.”

SAF is also considered the only short- to medium-term solution to reduce emissions in the global air transportation industry, especially using the existing fleet of planes. It is considered a drop-in fuel as it can be used without altering or replacing existing engines.

Source: C-SAF, What is SAF?, Note: CO2 captured would not be used to develop hydrogen using electrolysis

What role will renewable diesel play in Atlantic Canada’s net zero future?

Petroleum-based jet fuel is being processed today in Atlantic Canada. The Irving Oil refinery, located in Saint john, New Brunswick, produces jet fuel for commercial, corporate, cargo and military uses in Atlantic Canada and the North Eastern United States.

The demand for SAF is expected to grow in the future. In Canada alone, the net-zero modelling predicts 129 PJ of SAF will be needed to reach net-zero by 2050. Moving forward, there is considerable opportunity to develop sustainable aviation fuel and other biofuels in Atlantic Canada given the availability to develop additional renewable electricity generation (wind and solar), sources of biomass (including forest residues and sawmill waste), existing refining infrastructure, and port access to European and American markets.

The Braya Renewable Fuels’ refinery in Come by Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador currently produces renewable diesel and has plans to produce SAF and explore green hydrogen in the future.

Simply Blue Group announced plans to develop a Renewable Energy Park to produce SAF and bio-methanol using green hydrogen in Goldboro, Nova Scotia. Construction for the park is planned to begin in 2026, and the company plans to produce 165,000 tonnes of SAF annually beginning in 2029.

Tech Talk: Simply Blue Group’s Planned SAF Process

The company plans to produce SAF using woody biomass, drying it, and then gasifying it to create syngas. From there, the syngas would go through a methanol (made using green hydrogen) synthesis and distillation process. The methanol could then be converted to SAF using the “methanol-to-jet” process.

Gasification converts biomass into gases (hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide). The ‘syngas’ created can be converted to biofuels.

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