Different methodologies to calculate the emissions of SAF can also yield different results. The ethanol industry is asking the administration to use a methodology developed by the Department of Energy called GREET that shows ethanol to have a lighter carbon footprint as an SAF feedstock than does the methodology proscribed by the IRA, which was developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. A coalition of ethanol industry representatives and allies in the airlines industry, known as the "SAF BTC Coalition," wrote to the Treasury Department in February asking that the administration use the Department of Energy methodology.
The coalition includes the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, United Airlines Holdings Inc , Delta Air Lines Inc , and SAF producers LanzaJet Inc and Gevo Inc . Cooper said the RFA has also had numerous conversations across the Biden administration, including with the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Department and with the Federal Aviation Administration about ethanol as a feedstock for SAF, and specifically around ethanol's carbon intensity. The effort mirrors ethanol industry lobbying over emissions modeling during the creation of the Renewable Fuel Standard roughly 15 years ago. That policy, which now mandates billions of gallons of ethanol and other biofuels be blended into the nation’s fuel pool, also requires a reduction in carbon intensity compared to petroleum-based fuels.
HANDFUL OF PROJECTS Ethanol groups say that their supply chain, which already produces and transports huge volumes of ethanol per year, thanks to the RFS, would be readily available to help boost production of SAF to meet the administration's goals. But so far, only a handful of ethanol-to-SAF projects have been proposed.
LanzaJet, for example, is building in Georgia an alcohol-to-jet production facility using ethanol as a feedstock which is due to be completed in 2023, and which the company says would be the world's first facility of its kind.
The project would produce 10 million gallons of SAF and
renewable diesel per year – a tiny fraction of the roughly 24.7
billion gallons of petroleum-based jet fuel now produced in the
U.S. annually.
Gevo has said it expects to develop, own, and operate
ethanol-to-jet plants to produce SAF. The company has agreements
with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines Group Inc to
supply each with tens of millions of gallons of SAF per year for
several years starting in 2026.
Engineering and aerospace giant Honeywell International Inc has also announced a new ethanol-to-jet fuel processing
technology.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
