US-based advanced renewable fuel and biochemical platform technology developer Gevo, Inc. has announced that it has joined a consortium with San Francisco International Airport (SFO), for the use and advancement of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), a low-carbon and sustainably produced alternative to conventional, petroleum jet fuel.
Gevo signed onto a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a group of eight stakeholders to work cooperatively on expanding the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The consortium, initially formed in September 2018, is the first of its kind to include fuel suppliers, airlines, and airport agencies in a collaborative effort to accelerate the global transition to SAF.
The four airlines – United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Cathay Pacific Airways – represent nearly 70 percent of all flights at SFO, while the four fuel producers include the Airport’s two primary suppliers, Chevron and Shell, along with Neste and LanzaTech.
Hundred-fold increase to reach 50 percent biojet
Together with SFO Fuel Company, LLC, the Airport’s Fuel Consortium, Gevo and these partners will strive to increase SAF supply globally and at SFO.
We are pleased to be a member of the Consortium to advance the use of sustainable aviation fuel at SFO. We are the only player at the table using low cost, sustainably produced carbohydrates as a feedstock to produce renewable jet fuel. In our production process, not only do we produce renewable jet fuel we also can produce large quantities of protein for the food chain and even sequester carbon in the soil. In fact, for every barrel of bio jet fuel produced by Gevo, we could produce approximately 420 pounds of protein and sequester up to 60 pounds of carbon back into the soil. We are planning on expanding our plant in Luverne, Minnesota, to make it capable of producing nearly 10 million gallons per year of our sustainable alcohol-to-jet fuel, and we are looking to build additional sustainable alcohol-to-jet fuel production plants that could even use wood as a feedstock, said Dr Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo.
Airlines at SFO currently use over 1 billion gallons (≈ 3.785 billion litres) of jet fuel annually. If sustainable aviation fuel suppliers are able to increase global supply from the current 5 million gallons per year to 500 million gallons per annum, the use of SAF could prevent nearly 4.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually.
With this Memorandum of Understanding, we’re moving the dial on an entire industry. A quantum leap of this kind requires partnering with like-minded organizations, and we’re pleased that Gevo has joined the airlines and fuel suppliers who are committed to expanding the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel in air transportation, said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero.
