Progress on a safe alternative fuel (SAF) for aviation has accelerated in the past year. First, SAF fuel is produced from sustainable feedstocks such as waste oils from biological origin, agri residues or non-fossil CO2. SAF has been tested and approved for use as an aviation fuel.
Although SAF products have existed for the better part of a decade, progress on developing and refining SAF stalled because of tight financial markets to fund the research and development. Funding has begun to flow again, and now SAF is flowing into the fuel system.
SAF is fully compatible with, and can be mixed with, current jet fuels. For example, earlier this year, World Fuel and Avfuel—aviation fuel suppliers—delivered SAF to Van Nuys Airport in California.
In fact, according to Charles Etter, head of Gulfstream Aviation’s environmental and regulatory affairs “This is drop-in fuel, this is jet-A. It has better freeze-point qualities to it, it has more energy density to it, it’s actually a better fuel.”