The content featured in this article is produced by Nuseed Carinata, an independently certified sustainable, non-food cover crop contract grown between main crop rotations to regenerate soil and harvested for certified sustainable lower carbon feedstock. Nuseed is the seed technologies platform for Nufarm Limited (ASX: NUF).
History was made on November 28, 2023.
On that day, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner running on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) took off from London, and landed in New York. The flight marks the first time a commercial aircraft has made a transatlantic flight running on SAF.
SAF is a type of airplane fuel made from renewable and environmentally friendly sources, such as plant-based oils, agricultural waste, and carbon capture technologies.
Unlike traditional jet fuel, SAF generates fewer carbon lifecycle emissions and reduces the aviation industry’s impact on climate change, making it a key component in air travel’s quest to be more environmentally sustainable and less dependent on fossil fuels.
There are two kinds of SAF: synthetic and bio-based.
- Synthetic SAF (also known as e-fuels) is generated using renewable energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into hydrocarbons. This kind of fuel is produced through processes like electrolysis, and offers a carbon-neutral solution for aviation.
- The other kind of SAF is bio-based and created from organic sources like agricultural waste or algae that are processed into a renewable alternative to conventional jet fuel. SAF produced from sustainable feedstocks (like Nuseed Carinata) closely mimics traditional jet fuel. It can also be blended with jet fuel and easily dropped into existing aircraft and aviation infrastructure without any amendments or adjustments to existing fleets.
SAF will play a significant role in the more immediate decarbonization of long-haul aviation, because while other technologies such as electric or hydrogen are decades away from being commercially ready, SAF can be used now.
“Our estimation suggests about 65% of the carbon abatement to achieve net zero will come from the production and scaling of sustainable aviation fuel,” says Daniel Bloch, a sustainable aviation fuel specialist at the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“Seventy percent of our flying emissions are from the mid- to long-haul flights, and really the only viable alternative we have to decarbonize that particular sector or segment is going to come from sustainable aviation fuels,” he says.
IATA hopes at least 300 million tonnes of SAF will be produced annually by 2050. For context, in 2022, SAF represented 0.1% of global fuel — equivalent to approximately 240,000 tonnes, Bloch says.
“IATA often refers to a 2030 tipping point for sustainable aviation fuel, which is actually 24 million tonnes, up from 240,000 tonnes. So, it’s a 100-fold increase between 2023 and 2030. And so that’s obviously a very significant ramp up.”
Biofuels will help sustain an industry that’s crucial to how we live and connect with one another, move products through our supply chains, and keep tourism-based economies thriving.
“Really the key goal is to ensure that aviation can still uphold the values of a globalized society that places a strong importance on interconnectivity when, obviously, aviation is about connecting people, and we’re enriched by that as a human society,” Bloch says.
“Beyond that, there’s a very real need for aviation to be upheld to maintain trade supply chain and tourism-based economies.”
How do we produce enough biofuel to hit those SAF goals though? Cover crops are part of the solution.
Non-food cover crops are a sustainable option for both agriculture and aviation
Cover crops which are planted on existing farmland in between traditional growing seasons play a crucial role in the development of lower carbon biofuel feedstocks for SAF.
“We are not looking into options that are competing with food that are requiring land clearing or land use changes [or] that are demanding of extra resources like water and fertilizer,” Bloch explains.
Nufarm’s Seed Technology platform, Nuseed, has a non-food crop called Nuseed Carinata which is planted between harvests (and doesn’t threaten food security), while also improving soil health and protecting the land from erosion.
After it’s harvested it can be crushed in standard oilseed processing facilities for its oil, which is then used for lower carbon aviation biofuel.
“It’s a win-win type situation, because the farmers are happy, they have a higher, stronger yield, and a stronger, healthier farmland,” Bloch says. “Cover crops are a great option.”
A crop like Nuseed Carinata represents the evolution of agriculture to meet both the needs of farmers and the environment in today’s context, notes Brent Javra, Nuseed’s Global General Manager, Commercial.
“In addition to being a low-maintenance, beneficial option for farmers that leads to the production of sustainable biofuels, Carinata also helps sequester carbon underground,” he says.
“Soil is a living organism that feeds off carbon, so agriculture can help sequester carbon keeping it out of the air as well as limiting how much is going into our oceans.”
How to unlock and scale the SAF opportunity
The potential of bioenergy and SAF is clear.
But widespread adoption of biofuels requires more production capacity (such as biorefineries), Bloch says.
“We need to build a movement where we see more of these biorefineries — be they retrofitted from traditional oil assets or built from the ground up — in order to develop more value chains that can produce not just SAF, but renewable fuels,” he says.
Governmental support — through both incentives and traditional policy measures — has an important role to play in this value chain creation, says Bloch.
In addition to cleaning up the environment, “you can build long-term supply chains [and] you can develop regional wealth,” Bloch affirms. “And that’s how I think we unlock the government funding in order to actually build this capacity.”
Ultimately, from a numbers perspective, SAF is a good bet when it comes to long-term return on investment, because the aviation industry is projected to require biofuels for decades to come.
“Our biggest challenge is actually our biggest opportunity, because we can look governments in the eye, as well as the producers, and say: ‘Don’t worry about a 10-year return on investment profile, because we’re going to be here in 40 years’,” declares Bloch.
“It’s that long-term demand certainty over decades that really can give governments confidence to invest.”
