Fact Sheet: Alternative Fuels

• Planes rely on jet fuel derived from oil – jet fuel or kerosene. The industry is exploring reliable alternatives to kerosene that are sustainable and have a smaller carbon footprint.
• Current requirements of jet fuel
  • Not freeze at cold temperatures (Jet A -40˚C, Jet A1 -47˚C)
  • Not form deposits in the high temperature portion of the engine
  • Have high energy content (min 42.8 MJ/kg)
• Aircraft fuels can be divided into three main categories:
  • 1. Traditional Jet fuel (e.g. kerosene), produced from one of the following sources:
    •  Crude oil 
    • Tar sands (but negative environmental side effects)
    • Oil shale (but negative environmental side effects)
    • Natural gas condensates 
  • 2. Fischer Tropsch (FT), synthetic fuel:
    • Coal to Liquid (CTL)
    • Natural Gas to Liquid (GTL)
    • Biomass to Liquid (BTL) (2nd and 3rd generation)
  • 3. Biofuels, derived from biomass (not using FT process) such as:
    • Food crops (1st generation)
    • Nature byproducts/waste (2nd generation)
    • Additional grown biomass, like algae, switch grass, jatropha, etc. (3rd generation)

Fischer Tropsch Fuels

• Raw material (coal, gas, biomass) is broken down at high temperature to basic molecules, chemically cleaned and rebuilt to different products (including jet fuel). 
  • Less efficient compared to traditional refining of oil (many stages involved)
  • High new refinery investments needed
  • CO2 emissions are up to twice that from producing jet fuel from crude oil (but SOx and particles are fewer resulting in local air quality and health benefits)
  • FT fuels would only bring carbon benefits if the production process were coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS)*  or produced out of biomass. The long-term storage of CO2 is relatively untried
  • FT fuel blending is allowed in specifications for aviation fuel
  • FT fuel produced by Sasol in South Africa is approved for full blend range
  • FT fuel has been available for the aviation industry for 10 years (up to 50% blend).

*CCS is an approach to mitigate global warming by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as power plants and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere

Biofuels 1st Generation:

• Produced from the sugars, starches, oils or fats of agricultural products using conventional technologies. These compete with food production (corn, soybeans, sunflower seed, etc.) and can cause deforestation, fresh water abuse and/or soil depletion.
  • This may have an impact on food production (increasing food prices)
  • Overall lifecycle (“well to wheel”) improvement is possible
  • Very limited availability for aviation, strong automotive market (biodiesels & ethanol)
  • Not yet allowed in specifications for aviation fuel

Biojet Fuels 2nd Generation:

• Made from sustainable sources that are not widely used: forest residues (e.g. sawdust), industry residues (e.g. black liquor from the paper industry), agricultural residues (e.g. corn stover), municipal waste and sustainable grown biomass (also listed under 3rd generation).
  • There are no technical production hurdles but market accessibility and economic benefits need to be addressed.
  • Not enough raw materials are available to supply the entire aviation industry with fuel.
  • Lifecycle GHG emissions are all 60% lower than traditional jet fuel emissions. 
  • Improvements in production processes will reduce this percentage still further.
  • Improve the life cycle emissions of other products (e.g. paper production by utilising sawdust)

Biojet Fuels 3rd Generation:

• Made out of sustainable, non-food biomass sources such as algae, switch grass, jatropha, babassu and halophytes.
  • Algae are simple, photosynthetic plants that can be grown with polluted or salt water and can produce up to 250 times more oil than 1st generation soybeans. 
  • Jatropha reclaims wasteland, is a natural fence for crops and grows in poor soils. 
  • Halophytes grow on salt ground, where nothing else grows well. 
  • Switchgrass, a hardy grass, needs little water and produces a high output of biomass. 
  • Babassu is a native-growing Brazilian tree with a high oil-yield nut
• These types of biofuels are starting to look very promising
• Further research is required 
• Volumes need to be expanded.

Alternative fuels in practice:

• Airbus flew a A380 in early 2008 with one engine powered by FT Gas to Liquid fuel
• Virgin Atlantic flew a Boeing 747-400 in early 2008 with one engine operating on a 20% biofuel mix of babassu oil and coconut oil
• Air New Zealand will fly a Boeing 737 with one engine on a biofuel/kerosene mix in 2008/2009
• Continental Airlines will fly a Boeing 737 on 3rd generation biofuel in 2009
• JAL will test 2nd generation biofuel on a Boeing 747-300 with P&W engines in early 2009
• KLM has announced it will be using algae-based jet fuel by 2010, starting with its F-50 fleet.

IATA position on biofuels:

•  IATA recognizes that aircraft are long-lived assets and will be using kerosene or kerosene type fuels for many years to come. 
• It supports research, development & deployment of sustainable biofuels that 
  • Offer net carbon reductions over their life cycle 
  • Do not compete with fresh water requirements and food production
  • And don’t cause deforestation or other environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss 
• While international fuel specification for biofuels don’t yet exist, IATA is working with industry partners towards agreed production standards and test requirements.
• Against this background, IATA’s goal is for its members to be using 10% alternative fuels by 2017.

	GHG	Est. Costs $/bbl	Availability	Food chain impact
Traditional fuel	100%	166*	High today Long term limited	n.a.
FT CTL and GTL**	150-200%	130-200	Limited	None
Bio Jet Fuels FT BTL**	40-80%	135-200	Limited	None
Bio Jet Fuels 1st gen	60-80%	135-200	Limited	High
Bio Jet Fuels 2nd gen	<60%	110-160	Medium 5 – 20%	None
Bio Jet Fuels 3rd gen	0 – 40%	60 - 130	High Up to 100%	None

*View our Fuel Price Monitor for the most recent price
**Without CCS

Updated: August 2008