The jet fuel of the future - raw materials, production, techno-economic assessment - paths and challenges for sustainable aviation

Abstract

The European Green Deal set the agenda to make the whole EU's economy sustainable, including the aviation sector. E.g., ReFuelEU Aviation initiative aims to boost the supply and demand for sustainable aviation fuels in the EU. Changes in the product distribution of refineries have to be considered. New feedstocks and production routes are developed using alternative carbon sources and renewable electricity. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF include advanced biofuels and electro-fuels) have the potential to significantly reduce aircraft emissions. However, this potential is largely untapped as such fuels represent only 0.05 % of total jet fuel consumption. A detailed discussion of SAF prospects will be presented. Different options are compared and analyzed in terms of technical potential and challenges, fuel production costs, GHG footprint and GHG abatement costs. For techno-economic assessment these routes have been modeled in process simulation software. Process models have been validated with experimental test results and scaled to industrial plant size. Heat integration data from DLR’s in-house software tool TEPET (Techno Economic Process Evaluation Tool) were included. Transparent cost calculation is performed using standard chemical process cost engineering automated in TEPET. A life cycle assessment (LCA) of different SAF process concepts were performed based on standard methodology (ISO 14040/14044). The environmental impact will be assessed for different feedstocks and process configurations using the LCA database ecoinvent. However, the usage of SAF is only reasonable with significantly reduced Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to fossil fuels and lower GHG abatement costs compared to other decarbonization technologies (e.g. Power-to-Liquid, hydrogen, electric mobility etc.). A detailed discussion of SAF prospects for future European aviation shall be presented. Different biofuel production paths are compared and analyzed in terms of technical potential and challenges, fuel production costs, GHG footprint and GHG abatement costs.