In the United States (US), Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (Southwest), the world's largest low-fare airline has declared its "ongoing support" of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop commercially viable and scalable sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
According to a statement, Southwest plans to work with NREL to bridge a gap between the science behind SAF and the application of these sustainable fuels on a commercial level.
We recognize the important role SAF will play in Southwest’s journey to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050—a goal we’re dedicated to reaching, said Stacy Malphurs, VP of Supply Chain Management and Environmental Sustainability at Southwest.
By working with organizations like NREL, Southwest embraces a great opportunity to advance the crucial science that makes this technology possible, and more available. We’re excited to work with NREL toward commercially-viable SAF, Stacy Malphurs said.
According to NREL, its analysis quantifies that US wet organic waste, including food waste, could produce enough energy content to cover about 20 percent of jet fuel consumption in the United States.
Conventional jet fuel is a primary source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the aviation industry—showing the value of creating low carbon or carbon-negative SAF on a lifecycle carbon assessment basis from low-cost wet waste is a step toward one day reducing reliance on traditional jet fuel.
NREL has demonstrated how to make SAF from wet waste that is compatible with existing jet engines. It has the potential for a carbon-negative footprint when diverting food waste from landfills, said NREL scientist Derek Vardon.
