Honeywell is planning to roll out new technology to increase the supply of lower-carbon aviation fuel produced from ethanol. Honeywell claims that the technology can increase the production efficiency of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to lower costs.
The technology will be especially useful to airline operators trying to achieve net zero carbon emissions as well as oil refineries trying to increase the production of SAF.
Kevin O'Neil, senior business leader for renewable fuels at Honeywell UOP, said: “As demand for SAF has increased, we've been looking at different ways to make more SAF economically that people can adopt and adapt at large-scale and produce to displace significant fractions of the jet and diesel pools."
Honeywell claims that depending on the type of ethanol feedstock used, its technology can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% on a total lifecycle basis compared with petroleum-based jet fuel. Ethanol is primarily made from corn in the United States.
In September 2021, the Biden administration launched an effort to boost output to at least 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030 and have enough SAF by 2050 to meet 100% of aviation fuel demand, currently projected to be around 35 billion gallons a year.