Clean aviation will take more than just biofuels
agricultural produce. Ethanol yielding crops like sugarcane and corn are used for it and their acreage has been increasing across the world. Yet, as it involves a diversion of farm resources away from primary purposes like nutrition, output constraints will kick in sooner than we’d like.
Thankfully, other kinds of biomass can be used too. The government has indicated that India’s SAF plans are based on making use of bio-waste—like used cooking oil, forest residue and agricultural and municipal refuse—apart from non-food crops. Even so, feedstock sufficiency will be hard fought.
The idea is to start with a blend of very little biofuel—say 1%—mixed with regular jet fuel, and then gradually raise the bio-content as SAF-adapted aircraft come along. According to Puri, even if a 50% mix comes into use by 2030, our domestic needs would be less than half of what the country could make. If so, it would be impressive, but that’s a big ‘if,’ given what all it will take.
Right now, SAFs make up barely 0.1% of global aviation fuel consumption. Their long and complex production process makes them far costlier than jet fuel and their low energy density means larger volumes are needed to refuel planes. As with batteries, this is a burden.
Clearly, SAF conversion will require a heavy regulatory push. Globally, this has begun as carbon offsets slowly come into play under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation laid down by the UN’s apex body for this sector. Foreign flights run by Indian airlines will have to comply with those norms within half a decade.
To this end, we have made a small start. On 19 May, we celebrated a Pune-Delhi AIX Connect flight that used a 1% SAF blend produced locally. This is the
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