United Airlines, the world’s third largest carrier, has created a dedicated investment vehicle to support start-up businesses focused on sustainable aviation fuel. The United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund is designed to help accelerate research, production and technologies linked to SAF, the main and most available means to reduce flight carbon emissions. The fund has been launched with more than $100 million in investments from Boeing, GE Aerospace, aero technology company Honeywell and global finance house JP Morgan Chase, as well as Air Canada, a key member, with United, of the Star Alliance airline group. United has also refined its booking website and app to show customers the estimated carbon footprint of flights they are considering and provide options for them to contribute to the new fund.

“This is unique,” commented Scott Kirby, United’s CEO, on the Sustainable Flight Fund. “It’s not about offsets or things that are just greenwashing. We’re creating a system that drives investment to build a new industry around sustainable aviation fuel, essentially from scratch. That’s the only way we can actually decarbonise aviation.”  

United says it aims to be “100% green” by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions “100% by 2050”, without the use of conventional carbon offsets, which Kirby has long rejected as ineffective in cutting aviation’s carbon emissions.

The airline’s technology investment vehicle, United Airlines Ventures (UAV), has backed 11 companies including emerging SAF producers, manufacturers of zero emission aircraft or propulsion systems, and a battery business focused on electrifying airport ground equipment and future electric aircraft.

Some SAF-related investments will be moved from UAV to the new platform to kick-start its portfolio. United has committed to the future production of 3 billion gallons of SAF, “the most of any airline in the world,” and equivalent to the 2030 baseline production goal set by the US government in its SAF Grand Challenge programme.

“United has already made investments in or signed purchase agreements with companies using a variety of ingredients and technologies to produce SAF, including feedstocks like ethanol, animal by-products, forestry and crop waste, and municipal waste, as well as early-stage, promising technologies like synthetic biology and power-to-liquids,” the airline said. “The UAV Sustainable Flight Fund is open to investment by corporations across industries and the fund will prioritise investment in new technology, advanced fuel sources and proven producers, all in an effort to scale the supply of SAF.”

UAV has already supported five emergent SAF producers: Fulcrum Bioenergy, which is converting landfill waste to fuel; Alder Fuels, which will use biomass feedstock; Cemvita and Dimensional Energy, which will convert carbon dioxide to SAF; and Next Renewable Fuels, which recycles organic waste including used cooking oil.

As well as inviting more corporations to participate in the new investment fund, United is also looking to its passengers for support, becoming the first US carrier to highlight the indicative carbon footprint of every flight searched on the airline’s website or booking app, and providing the option for customers to contribute to the SAF fund as part of the booking process, with contribution levels set at $1.00, a default price of $3.50, and $7.00.

“Green shading will indicate a lower-carbon option on a per-economy seat passenger basis in a customer’s chosen itinerary,” the airline explained. “A flight’s carbon footprint is measured in kg CO2e – kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent – and United’s estimates, which could differ from actual flight emissions, are based on aircraft type, flying time, seat capacity and the number of people and cargo on a given flight.

“The default option for customer contributions is set at $3.50 to illustrate the potential impact of customer action at scale. If the 152 million people who flew on United in 2022 each contributed just $3.50 to the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, that would be enough to design and build a SAF refinery capable of producing as much as 40 million gallons of alternative fuel annually.”

In addition to SAF producers, UAV has invested in Swedish electric aircraft start-up Heart Aerospace, air taxi manufacturers Archer Aviation and Eve Air Mobility, and hydrogen-electric powertrain manufacturer ZeroAvia, whose prototype engine is now being flight tested in the UK. Late last year, it invested in US-based battery manufacturer Natron Energy, a company with potential to help United electrify airport ground equipment, including airside tractors, and future electric aircraft such as air taxis.  

United also operates the Eco-Skies Alliance, a SAF corporate purchasing programme.

Photo: United Airlines

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

Editor

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An Emirates Boeing 777-300ER has performed a demonstration flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel to power one of its two GE90 engines. The flight on 30 January was the latest initiative in an industry campaign to secure regulatory approval for flights fully powered by SAF. Currently, the maximum allowed is a 50% blend with conventional jet fuel. It was conducted in partnership with Boeing, GE Aerospace, Honeywell and renewable fuel companies Neste and Virent. The flight, which followed the Dubai coastline for more than one hour, was a key initiative of the ‘Year of Sustainability’ declared by the UAE to highlight what it describes as a commitment to and capability of delivering innovative responses to energy challenges, climate change and other sustainability issues. Emirate’s first flight with blended SAF was in 2017, on a Boeing 777 flying from Chicago, and in 2020 SAF was used to part-power the delivery flight of an A380.

“This is a milestone moment for Emirates and a positive step for our industry as we work collectively to address one of our biggest challenges – reducing our carbon footprint,” commented the airline’s COO, Adel Al Redha, who travelled on the test flight. “Emirates is the first passenger airline in the world to operate a Boeing 777 powering a GE engine with 100% SAF,” he said. “Such initiatives are critical contributors to industry knowledge on SAF and provide data to demonstrate the use of higher blends of SAF for future regulatory approvals. We hope that landmark demonstration flights like this one will help open the door to scale up the SAF supply chain and make it more available and accessible across geographies, and, most importantly, affordable for broader industry adoption in the future.”

The weight and lack of sufficient range for batteries and the immaturity of hydrogen as a near-term source of low emission propulsion, mean SAF is the only viable option to decarbonise large aircraft such as the Boeing 777 or the Airbus A380, both of which Emirates is the largest operator.

To perform the demo flight, the first in the Middle East and Africa to operate with 100% SAF, the airline worked with its partners to procure and develop a blend that closely replicated the properties of conventional fuel. Once a blend ratio was reached which reflected the characteristics of jet fuel, 18 tonnes of SAF were produced for use on the flight.

The SAF was comprised of hydro processed esters and fatty acids and synthetic paraffinic kerosene (HEFA-SPK), supplied by Finland-based Neste, and hydro deoxygenated synthetic aromatic kerosene (HDO-SAK) from US-based Virent. Neste’s ’drop-in’ SAF is mainly produced from waste fats, oils and greases, then blended with conventional fuel, while Virent converts widely-available plant-based sugars into compounds which enable the production of 100% SAF, without a requirement for blending. Virent used its BioForming process to produce the SAK, a critical component that made the 100% SAF possible, as today’s SAF – typically made from used cooking oil or other plant-based oil feedstocks – has to be blended with conventional jet fuel because they lack the aromatics required to meet jet fuel specifications. The Virent product was used to help other 100% SAF-powered demo flights conducted by United Airlines in December 2021 and Gulfstream in December 2022.

“SAF will play a critical role in the aviation industry’s commitment to be net zero by 2050, requiring strong industry collaboration,” said Omar Arekat, Boeing’s VP Commercial Sales and Marketing, Middle East.

Added Aziz Koleilat, VP Global Sales and Marketing for GE Aerospace in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Turkey: “Collaborations like this to test 100% SAF globally will help bring us closer to this target.”

Honeywell Aerospace, which produces the auxiliary power unit for the Boeing 777, also participated in the Emirates SAF trial. “The APU provides main engine starting, environmental control and emergency back-up systems for the aircraft on the ground and in flight. It uses the same fuel as the main propulsion engines,” said Mosab Alkubaisy, Director of Airlines for Honeywell Aerospace, Middle East. “Currently the APU is certified to run only on 50% SAF, so this demonstration is a big first step in showing full APU functionality and capability when running on 100% SAF.”

Jonathan Wood, Neste’s VP Europe, Middle East and Africa, Renewable Aviation, said sustainable fuel played a key role in cutting aviation’s emissions, “but to fully leverage its decarbonisation potential we need to enable 100% SAF use.” He reported Neste was working closely with partners to speed up the supply and use of SAF as the company prepared to increase its production capacity to 1.5 million tonnes per year with the commissioning of new production facilities in Singapore and Rotterdam. “We look forward to growing the supply of SAF also to Dubai,” he said.

Virent’s President and General Counsel, Dave Kettner, welcomed the opportunity to demonstrate “that we can power sustainable aviation without modifying today’s modern airline engines or the infrastructure that serves the airline industry. Along with our parent company, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, we are committed to meeting today’s energy needs while investing in an energy-diverse future.”

Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO of the Dubai government-owned Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), said: “We prioritise working closely with our strategic partners to implement a national roadmap for sustainable aviation fuel. This not only aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the aviation sector, but also contributes to achieving the UAE’s goals in climate neutrality, enhances the efficiency and conservation of fuel, as well as positions the UAE as a regional hub for sustainable aviation fuel. Playing an active role in supplying Dubai Airports with aviation fuel, ENOC Group is participating in this achievement by securing and blending sustainable aviation fuel, which will help to secure this type of fuel in the UAE in the future.”

Emirates has 134 passenger and freight variants of Boeing 777 aircraft flying 119 routes, from the 349 km Dubai-Muscat sector to the 12,940 km journey between Dubai and Dallas Fort Worth. Aviation data group OAG has just ranked Dubai International Airport as the world’s second busiest global hub in 2022, after Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson.

Photo: Emirates

A new industrial consortium will develop a renewable fuel hub on the US west coast, with capacity to produce 340 million gallons (almost 1.3 billion litres) of sustainable aviation fuel per year from 2025. The lead partners in the $2 billion project are World Energy, the world’s first commercial-scale SAF producer, global industrial gases company Air Products and Honeywell, a specialist in SAF production technology. The new fuel plant, to be built and owned by Air Products, will be located at World Energy’s renewable fuel facility in Paramount, California. World Energy will be responsible for SAF production operations while Air Products will also construct and operate a new hydrogen plant that will be connected by a 16km extension to its existing Southern California hydrogen pipeline system. The partners will collaborate on innovations to further reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels produced. Operated under a 25-year ‘take-or-pay’ agreement with World Energy, Air Products claims it will be North America’s largest and the world’s most advanced SAF facility, reports Tony Harrington.

Air Products develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates industrial gas projects around the world, which include gasification facilities that sustainably convert natural resources into syngas for the production of power, fuels and chemicals; carbon capture; and low- and zero-carbon hydrogen projects to support transportation and the energy transition. Last year, it announced a multi-billion-dollar net zero hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton, Canada, and a $4.5 billion blue hydrogen complex to be built in Louisiana. The company had fiscal 2021 sales of $10.3 billion from operations in over 50 countries and has a current market capitalisation of around $55 billion.

Air Products CEO Seifi Ghasemi reported his company, together with partners, was already constructing the world’s biggest green hydrogen facility in Saudi Arabia, and the world’s biggest blue hydrogen plant in Louisiana. “Now we are teaming up with World Energy to build North America’s largest SAF facility,” he said. “We are very pleased to be working with them, enabling another US mega-project that will provide measurable sustainability benefits and advance California’s decarbonisation goals by producing a renewable fuel to meet the growing demands of the aviation industry.” 

World Energy has produced SAF on a commercial scale since 2016 at a former oil refinery site in Paramount, California. The new project, which also includes more than 15 other partners, will transform the plant into North America’s largest SAF production facility which, by 2050, is forecast to produce enough renewable fuels to remove more than 76 million metric tons of CO2, equivalent to 3.8 million carbon net zero flights between Los Angeles and New York. The new fuels will also cut fine particulate emissions from aircraft, as well as surface transport modes, while World Energy and Air Products will also work together to transition to green hydrogen inputs.

“Getting real about net zero aviation is going to require the mobilisation of expertise and resources far beyond anything that has come before,” said World Energy CEO Gene Gebolys. “We are pulling together the very best companies in the world with the expertise, experience, commitment and focus to collaborate on pushing the frontier of what can be done to decarbonise aviation today, while building a platform for what needs to be done to decarbonise flight entirely by 2050. This is an immense undertaking. But it must be done, and it requires that we move with the speed, coordination and determination befitting the problem we are working to tackle.”

Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining technology will be used to transform “innovative” renewable feedstocks to 100% sustainable fuel. CEO Bryan Glover said the company had a long-term relationship with World Energy, adding: “Our participation in this project will not only allow World Energy to build one of the most technologically-advanced SAF production and distribution hubs globally, it also helps accelerate the energy transition of the aviation industry.” 

Schematic of the Air Products / World Energy project:

Top photo: World Energy’s Paramount facility

United Airlines and Honeywell have announced a joint multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels, a new cleantech venture headed by Bryan Sherbacow, founder of AltAir Fuels (now World Energy), the world’s first commercial sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer. United has also agreed to purchase 1.5 billion gallons of SAF over 20 years, the largest publicly announced SAF agreement to date, reports Susan van Dyk. The airline says the purchase is one-and-a-half times the size of the rest of the world’s airlines’ publicly announced SAF commitments combined. Alder claims it will be pioneering first-of-its-kind technologies to produce SAF at scale by converting abundant biomass, such as forest and crop waste, into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel. When coupled with Honeywell’s Ecofining process, the start-up says the technologies could have the ability to produce a carbon-negative fuel across the full lifecycle at a specification with today’s jet fuel.

United has pledged to reduce 100% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through large investments in SAF production, carbon capture and sequestration, and electric aircraft. It was the first airline to use SAF in regular operations on a continuous basis. Since then, the carrier has purchased more SAF than any other airline and now with this agreement has more than 70% of the airline industry’s publicly announced SAF commitments.

“Since announcing our 100% green commitment in 2020, United has stayed focused on decarbonising without relying on the use of traditional carbon offsets,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. “Part of that commitment means increasing SAF usage and availability since it’s the fastest way to reduce emissions across our fleet. However, to scale SAF as quickly as necessary, we need to look beyond existing solutions and invest in research and development for new pathways like the one Alder is developing.”

United made headlines in 2015 by investing $30 million in Fulcrum Bioenergy, a developer of SAF production from municipal solid waste, and signing, at the time, the largest offtake agreement for SAF. In 2020, United became the first airline to announce a commitment to invest in carbon capture and sequestration and has since followed with investments in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and 19-seat electric aircraft that have the potential to fly customers up to 250 miles before the decade’s end.

To advance its goals, in June 2021, United formed United Airlines Ventures, a venture fund that focuses on startups, upcoming technologies and sustainability concepts that will complement United’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The joint investment with Honeywell in Alder Fuels is the latest from United Airlines Ventures and continues what the the company describes as a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by tackling emissions at their source and continuing and accelerating development and investment in clean technologies.

Back in 2008, Honeywell’s UOP process technology played a pioneering role in the first-ever commercial airliner to fly using biofuel from second generation, renewable feedstocks. Made from the oil of jatropha plants, a 50/50 blend was used to power an engine of an Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 during a test flight.

Honeywell will use its Ecofining process to partner with Alder to commercialise its technology, which was jointly developed with Eni. UOP currently has licensed 20 Ecofining units in nine countries around the world, processing 12 different types of renewable feedstocks.

“Our work with United and Alder on this new technology will help transform the industry and support the growth of a zero-carbon economy,” said Darius Adamczyk, Honeywell’s CEO. 

Currently, all commercial SAF volumes are produced from fats, oils and greases, a costly feedstock with limited availability to produce SAF at required scale. Shifting to other types of low-cost, low-carbon feedstocks that are available in significant quantities is considered critical to large-scale SAF volumes.

Little information, other than that it is a pyrolysis-type technology, is currently available on the specific technology that Alder Fuels will use. This type of technology produces a liquid intermediate that can be further upgraded into finished fuels such as SAF. It is in the upgrading process that Honeywell’s Ecofining technology and their advanced expertise in hydrotreating will become crucial to produce drop-in fuels such as SAF. Alder Fuels also envisages the suitability of the ‘green’ crude oil to be converted by the global refinery industry with existing equipment and infrastructure. Commercialisation is expected by 2025.

The new company’s President and CEO, Bryan Sherbacow, is a veteran in the industry with over 15 years’ experience in the development of low carbon fuels. He was responsible for the first commercialisation of SAF production as co-founder of AltAir Fuels in 2009, the world’s first refinery designed to produce SAF. Commissioned in January 2016, AltAir Paramount converted a petroleum refinery to the production of SAF, renewable diesel, naphtha and propane. Sherbacow negotiated the aviation industry’s first commercial contracts for SAF with United Airlines, KLM and World Fuel Services. Additionally, he executed the first contract for operational use of renewable diesel fuel by the US Navy. Subsequent contracts include with Gulfstream, Boeing, UPS and Amazon. In March 2018, he facilitated the acquisition by World Energy of AltAir and the Paramount refinery assets. Formerly Chief Commercial Officer of World Energy, Sherbacow will continue as senior advisor to the CEO of World Energy, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“Aviation poses one of the greatest technology challenges for addressing climate change and SAF has demonstrated the greatest potential. However, there is insufficient raw material to meet demand,” he said. “Alder’s technology revolutionises SAF production by enabling use of widely available, low-cost and low-carbon feedstock. The industry is now a major step closer to using 100% SAF with our drop-in fuel that accelerates the global transition to a zero-carbon economy.”

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), US forestry residues and agricultural residues alone could provide enough biomass energy to generate more than 17 billion gallons of jet fuel and displace 75% of US aviation fuel consumption. If the nation was to broadly adopt regenerative agricultural practices, which capture more carbon in healthier soil compared to traditional methods, the US could generate an additional seven billion gallons of SAF, which would completely replace its current fossil jet fuel consumption. Alder’s technology and demand for its fuel from the aviation industry could create a large new market for biomass from regenerative practices.

Photo: United Airlines

Susan van Dyk

GreenAir Correspondent

www.svdconsulting.ca

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