Learn how aviation is becoming more sustainable, thanks to fuels that aren’t made from fossil sources.
Aviation today is accountable for 3.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. "So there's a big part for aviation to play in helping us reach our emission reduction targets," says Leigh Abrams, an emerging renewable fuels senior business leader at Honeywell UOP. And here's one of the best ways the industry can do that — by using sustainable aviation fuel.
Fuel is typically made from fossil sources, but the technology now exists to turn waste oils (like from your French Fries!) or crop oils (like from soybean and corn) and convert them into fuels that can power an airplane.
How is this tech being developed, and how far away are we from putting it in every plane? Abrams explains in this video.
Aviation today is accountable for 3.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. "So there's a big part for aviation to play in helping us reach our emission reduction targets," says Leigh Abrams, an emerging renewable fuels senior business leader at Honeywell UOP. And here's one of the best ways the industry can do that — by using sustainable aviation fuel.
Fuel is typically made from fossil sources, but the technology now exists to turn waste oils (like from your French Fries!) or crop oils (like from soybean and corn) and convert them into fuels that can power an airplane.
How is this tech being developed, and how far away are we from putting it in every plane? Abrams explains in this video.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 When you eat French fries, are you helping to save the planet?
00:04 All right, a little bit of a stretch, but follow me here.
00:07 The oil that is used to make French fries
00:09 is becoming sustainable aviation fuel
00:13 that can help you fly around the world in a much more
00:16 eco-friendly way.
00:18 And that is just the beginning of the future of aviation fuel.
00:22 I learned about it from Lee Abrams at Honeywell.
00:29 Lee, what is sustainable jet fuel,
00:32 and why is this an important thing to talk about?
00:35 So sustainable jet fuel is a fuel
00:37 that looks pretty much like the jet fuel we use today.
00:41 The big difference is what it's made from.
00:43 So instead of making this from fossil sources of energy,
00:47 we're now taking things like waste oils,
00:51 say used French fry oil, or crop oils,
00:55 things like soybean and corn oil,
00:57 and converting them into fuels that look and perform
01:02 like the fuels that we're used to using every day.
01:04 And this is important, I imagine,
01:06 because air travel is a big consumer of fuel.
01:10 And so if we can solve that problem,
01:12 we're making some real headway in creating
01:14 a more sustainable future.
01:15 Is that right?
01:16 That's right.
01:17 I think aviation today is accountable for about 3.5%
01:22 of global greenhouse gas emissions.
01:24 So there is absolutely a big part for aviation
01:28 to play in reducing those emissions through things
01:31 like the use of sustainable aviation fuel.
01:34 I've read that sustainable aviation fuel
01:35 is really hard to make.
01:37 Why is that?
01:39 It is hard in some cases to find the right feedstocks
01:43 to make it from, right?
01:44 Because you want these to be things
01:45 that aren't going to lead to deforestation, land
01:49 degradation.
01:50 You want them to truly be sustainable feedstocks.
01:53 So once you find those, the process
01:56 to turn them into a fuel is actually a lot of the things
02:00 that we as Honeywell, a technology developer,
02:03 already know how to do.
02:04 We know how to take the oxygen out of things
02:08 like that used French fry oil and make it
02:10 into a fuel that performs much better in an engine.
02:13 If I get on a plane today, what are the chances
02:18 that the fuel that is in that plane is sustainable?
02:21 If you are flying out of LAX, the chances are pretty good.
02:27 One of our first customers who's using our technology
02:31 to make sustainable aviation fuel today is World Energy.
02:35 And they supply LAX with that sustainable aviation fuel.
02:39 Beyond a select number of airports in the US and Europe,
02:45 there's not a whole lot in use today.
02:47 And so that's something that we're really all
02:49 trying to work to change.
02:51 So why is that?
02:52 Because what you're telling me is really exciting.
02:55 The technology exists.
02:56 The know-how exists.
02:58 So why isn't this everywhere yet?
03:00 First of all, I think it's the incentives and motivations
03:06 of different folks to really start adopting
03:09 sustainable technologies.
03:10 The good news, I think, is that while this technology takes
03:15 a little bit of time to develop a design
03:18 and to actually build those plants and get them operating,
03:21 there are already dozens of facilities
03:25 in the planning and construction stages today.
03:27 So you're going to see a lot more sustainable aviation
03:30 fuel become available in the next several years.
03:32 But you also see governments really trying to stand up
03:37 this industry as well.
03:39 In the US, the Inflation Reduction Act
03:41 has done a lot to really enable this to continue to grow.
03:47 One of the ways that it's done that
03:49 is through a specific credit that
03:52 is for every gallon of sustainable aviation fuel
03:55 produced.
03:56 In Europe, instead of using credits,
03:58 they tend to use mandates.
04:01 And there are mandates starting in 2025
04:03 even for the use of sustainable aviation fuel in the EU.
04:08 In 2030, that starts to include regulations for e-fuel,
04:14 or fuel that is made from CO2 and renewable energy.
04:18 Can you just help me imagine how the French fry
04:24 oil at the local fast food place actually travels somewhere
04:28 and then becomes the fuel that gets me from New York to LA?
04:32 How is that happening?
04:33 So we have a technology that converts that French fry
04:36 oil into a blending component that you would then typically
04:43 blend with some fossil jet.
04:46 That's because of the current regulatory environment.
04:49 And then that goes directly to an airport
04:51 and gets uplifted into a plane.
04:54 It's really not that many steps.
04:56 Now, if you look at a different feedstock, for example,
04:58 if you look at our recently announced e-finding
05:01 technology, that's one that goes directly from CO2 to jet fuel,
05:08 enabled by our methanol to jet technology.
05:12 So you may have a couple of steps there,
05:14 where you first of all have a facility that
05:16 converts CO2 into methanol.
05:19 Methanol is great because you can ship it anywhere.
05:22 And that means that when you're converting that CO2
05:24 into methanol, you can use renewable energy that
05:28 is really the lowest cost, most efficient renewable energy
05:33 that you can find out there.
05:35 And then once you have methanol, which
05:36 is an intermediate that's easily shipped and transported,
05:40 that we have supply chains for already,
05:43 then that can be converted into sustainable aviation fuel, which
05:46 has higher value overall.
05:48 Are there any projections for what the future looks like
05:51 here, how quickly this gets adopted,
05:54 and how much it can save in fossil fuel?
05:57 When we start looking at how do we develop a better technology,
06:00 we're thinking about efficiency.
06:01 We're thinking about how much energy
06:03 does it use to make the fuel, how much fuel can we
06:06 make out of a given feedstock.
06:08 The more fuel you can make with the less energy,
06:10 the better it is overall.
06:12 Our ecofining technology, for example,
06:15 that's the one that converts French fry oil,
06:18 is something that can give you a 65% to 80% reduction
06:23 in carbon intensity versus conventional jet fuel.
06:26 And that's something that you can
06:28 use in the existing infrastructure for fueling
06:31 and flying today.
06:32 You don't need a new type of airplane.
06:34 So that's really important as well,
06:36 because it means it costs less overall to be more sustainable.
06:41 That's pretty incredible.
06:42 Can I just double click on that for a second
06:43 to make sure I understand?
06:45 So when you're saying that you don't need any kind
06:48 of new infrastructure, you're saying
06:50 that this fuel can just feed directly
06:53 into the existing planes and engines that we already have?
06:57 That's right.
06:58 Now, there are some guidelines, of course, for how to do that
07:02 and how to do that safely.
07:04 And it depends on the feedstock that you're
07:06 making the fuel from and the properties of that.
07:09 But there is an organization that kind of regulates
07:14 those fuels and makes sure that they look and feel and mix well
07:18 with existing petroleum jet fuel.
07:22 Lee, I think that this subject is
07:23 going to sound really exciting to a lot of entrepreneurs who,
07:26 of course, are thrilled by the idea
07:29 that their air travel is going to become more sustainable.
07:33 But most of us don't own private jets,
07:36 so we aren't really in the position
07:39 to be purchasing sustainable jet fuel.
07:41 So how can entrepreneurs feel like they
07:44 have some control or ability to contribute to this movement?
07:48 So there are various airlines who
07:50 are developing mechanisms for their passengers
07:53 to be able to select the type of fuel they want to fly on.
07:57 DHL and FedEx, I believe, have committed
07:59 to 30% of their transport by 2030 will be on SAF.
08:07 And that's a pretty substantial commitment
08:09 in terms of really enabling this industry to mature.
08:13 Well, Lee, thank you for the work
08:15 that you and the Honeywell team are
08:17 doing to help make aviation travel more sustainable.
08:22 And I really love the idea that my next French fry
08:25 could be bathed in oil that helps
08:27 me get across the country.
08:28 Thank you very much for having me.
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