Business aviation is out front as the wider industry transitions to burning sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), but ongoing progress depends on the future regulatory environment, says a leading fuel distributor.
Overall, there were 23 billion gal. of jet fuel consumed in the U.S. in 2023, of which approximately 1.4 billion (6%) was consumed by business and general aviation (GA). There were 26.5 million gal. of “neat” or unblended SAF purchased, according to the FAA and RIN (Renewable Identification Numbers) count—credits the Environmental Protection Agency uses to track compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard, says Keith Sawyer, Avfuel Corp. manager of alternative fuels.
Business and GA associations and SAF suppliers estimate that 11-12% of neat SAF was consumed by the business/GA segment of the industry, which represents just 6% of the overall demand for jet fuel. That is sending a clear demand signal to SAF producers, Sawyer says.
“The message is under the radar that our business aviation segment is punching above its weight, just because we can do it quicker,” Sawyer says. “We’ve got FBOs and a distributive mechanism that we’re shipping [SAF] to already. It doesn’t need to be segregated, it is fungible, it is 1655 [specification] jet fuel, and it’s a drop-in.”
On the demand side, aviation overall is making good progress in the transition to SAF, the linchpin of its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. According to the FAA, SAF purchases grew from 16 million gal. in 2022 to more than 26 million last year, a 64% year-over-year increase.
“Many of the new business jets in the United States are being delivered with their first fill being SAF,” says Sawyer, who notes that in addition to a growing number of fixed-base operators (FBO), corporate flight departments and aircraft manufacturers are taking SAF deliveries at various bases and facilities.
The Supply Side
Neste has commissioned capacity at the Oneok terminal in Houston for blending and storing Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Credit: Neste
On the supply side, fuel producers are also making progress toward the Biden administration’s ambitious SAF Grand Challenge goal of ramping up SAF production to 3 billion gal. per year by 2030. In the three years since the challenge was announced, annual domestic production and imports of SAF have increased tenfold, from 5 million gal. to 52 million gal. through the first six months of 2024, says NBAA, citing data from the U.S. Energy Department.
Avfuel started loading Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel, a 70/30 blend of conventional jet fuel to SAF, at the NuStar Energy-operated Selby Terminal near San Francisco in 2020 and started supplying it regularly to FBO Monterey Jet Center in Monterey, California, in 2021.
Signature Aviation also has partnered with Neste since 2020 and in October 2022 expanded SAF availability to all 10 of its locations in California. In 2023, Neste expanded its renewables footprint on the West Coast by commissioning capacity at the Vopak Los Angeles terminal to store SAF and renewable diesel. This April, Signature started supplying only blended Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel at its Los Angeles International Airport terminal, its second location after San Francisco International Airport to supply 100% blended SAF.
Through its partnership with Neste, Avfuel in October was supplying SAF to 20 FBO facilities in the U.S., nearly half of the 44 facilities with physical SAF supply listed by sustainability consulting firm 4AIR (see list below). Avfuel sent a first truckload to sister company Avflight’s FBO at Falcon Field Airport (KFFZ) in Mesa, Arizona, in late August, the first of Avflight’s 26 locations to offer SAF. It also supplies SAF to 12 locations in Europe and the UK.
“Every truckload that we deliver within 100 mi. of a terminal is equivalent to between 19 and 20 tons of CO2 emissions lifecycle savings,” says Sawyer. “That’s pretty significant.”
Combining current production capacity with new projects for which final investment decisions have been made, the U.S. will produce 1.6-to-1.8 billion gal. of SAF annually, Sawyer says, bringing it halfway to the Grand Challenge goal of 3 billion gal. per year by 2030. Major projects are coming on-stream in the next 12-18 months, among them:
Phillips 66 has converted its San Francisco refinery at Rodeo, California, into the Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex, which is now processing only renewable feedstocks and producing about 30,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel. Plans call for increasing production to more than 800 million gal. per year of renewable fuels, including SAF.Diamond Green Diesel is repurposing its plant at Port Arthur, Texas, to convert approximately 50% of its 470-million-gallon annual production capacity of renewable diesel to SAF.
Avfuel expects to begin lifting SAF from Neste on the Gulf Coast later this year or next spring. Neste announced in July that it had commissioned capacity at the Oneok terminal in Houston for blending and storing up to 33.5 million gal. of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel. The terminal is connected to the energy pipeline infrastructure in the eastern part of the U.S. and can supply SAF to airports east of the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast.
With emerging technologies supplementing HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids)-based renewable feedstocks such as rendered animal fat, used cooking oils and grease, Sawyer anticipates “no issues through 2030” on sourcing SAF feedstock. He points to projects by LanzaJet, which christened the world’s first ethanol-to-SAF production facility in Georgia earlier this year, and by Gevo, whose Net-Zero 1 Project in South Dakota aims to produce fuels from agricultural residue.
But he cautions that a shift in the regulatory environment following the U.S. presidential election in November could lead companies to shelve the development of new SAF production facilities.
“Right now [what is needed] is a stable regulatory environment through 2030,” Sawyer says. “The current renewable identification numbers, the blenders tax credits, and other incentives in general expire in December this year. There has been talk of renewing some aspects of those programs, but industries need guidance.”
The current regulatory environment penalizes SAF versus renewable diesel in terms of incentives, Sawyer says, and should apply to reusing “brownfield” facilities as well as developing new “greenfield” projects.
“Whether it’s a refiner with a brownfield project or a greenfield project, financiers need to see a 20-year horizon,” he says. “If 30%-40% of your profitability is based on incentives, and they’re a variable, it becomes very difficult to understand that risk and mitigate it.”
Sawyer adds: “There is a pressure point with respect to being able to build these plants. If you get the green light today, typically in any state you’re four-to-five years away from making your first drop, once you’ve got all your permits, once you’ve taken your final investment decision to get it all working.”
U.S. Airports, FBOs With Onsite SAF
Source: 4AIR
Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (KASE): Atlantic Aviation
King County International Airport-Boeing Field (KBFI): Skyservice, Signature Aviation
Hollywood-Burbank Airport (KBUR): Million Air
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (KBZN): Jet Aviation
Camarillo Airport (KCMA): Sun Air Jets, Avex
McClellan-Palomar Airport (KCRQ): Atlantic Aviation
Eagle County Regional Airport (KEGE): Signature Aviation
Fresno Yosemite International Airport (KFAT): Signature Aviation
Falcon Field Airport (KFFZ): Avflight
Portland-Hillsboro Airport (KHIO): Hillsboro Aviation
William P. Hobby Airport (KHOU): Signature Aviation
Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX): Signature Aviation, Atlantic Aviation
Long Beach Airport (KLGB): Atlantic Aviation, Signature Aviation
Sacramento Mather Airport (KMHR): Modern Aviation
Monterey Regional Airport (KMRY): Monterey Jet Center, Del Monte Aviation
Oakland International Airport (KOAK): Signature Aviation
Palm Springs International Airport (KPSP): Atlantic Aviation, Signature Aviation
San Diego International Airport (KSAN): Signature Aviation
Santa Barbara Airport (KSBA): Atlantic Aviation, Signature Aviation
Stockton Metropolitan Airport (KSCK): Atlantic Aviation
Scottsdale Airport (KSDL): Jet Aviation
Sedona Airport (KSEZ): Red Rock Aviation
San Francisco International Airport (KSFO): Signature Aviation
San Jose Mineta International Airport (KSJC): Atlantic Aviation, Signature Aviation
Santa Monica Airport (KSMO): Atlantic Aviation
John Wayne/Orange County Airport (KSNA): Clay Lacy, ACI Jet
Charles M. Schultz-Sonoma County Airport (KSTS): Sonoma Jet Center
Telluride Regional Airport (KTEX)
Truckee Tahoe Airport (KTRK)
Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (KTRM): Atlantic Aviation, Desert Jet
Van Nuys Airport (KVNY): Clay Lacy, Signature Aviation, Jet Aviation, Castle & Cook Aviation
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