Following the current industry trend, British aviation behemoth Rolls-Royce has announced its new small gas turbine which will power future hybrid-electric flights, and as per the reports, the engine will begin testing in 2023 itself.

The engine is part of a turbo generator system that will cater for the Advanced Air Mobility market, including the electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for urban air mobility for future smart cities and commuter aircraft applications up to 19 seats.

The turbo generator system will reportedly complement the existing Rolls-Royce Electrical propulsion portfolio as it will come with an onboard power source with scalable power offerings between 500kW and 1200kW, while enabling extended range on SAF. The application will have a scope for inducting hydrogen combustion in the coming years too, thus enabling electric battery-powered commercial aircraft to perform flight operations at longer routes.

Olaf Otto, President of Rolls-Royle Electrical, told the media, “Rolls-Royce will be the leading provider of all-electric and hybrid-electric power and propulsion systems for Advanced Air Mobility. The Pass-To-Test (PTT) of our brand-new small engine that will power our turbo generator system is an important step forward. This product will enable our customers to extend the routes that electric flight can support and means more passengers will be able to travel further on low to net zero emissions aircraft.”

The ongoing development of the turbo generator system will combine the aviation giant’s electrical and gas turbine development competencies. Also, the turbogenerator can be used in serial or parallel hybrid applications, as the product will be suited for recharging batteries, apart from providing energy to electrical propulsion units directly, thus enabling an aircraft to switch between power sources during its flight operations.

The research and development of this new small engine has got partial funding from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Rolls-Royce will test the engine on SAF, at its test facility in Germany’s Dahlewitz. The Rolls-Royce Power Gearbox test facility has already been modified to accommodate the new engine’s testing, a crucial function which will confirm the engine’s technical parameters.

Update On The Pearl 10X Program

Rolls-Royce’s other flagship engine program, called ‘Pearl 10X’, is going at a steady pace.

The engine prototype has successfully accumulated over 1,500 testing hours. The project team is now preparing for the next phase of the flight test, which will be done on Rolls-Royce’s dedicated Boeing 747 flying test bed in Arizona, later in 2023.

The Pearl 10X will be the first Rolls‑Royce engine to power a business jet of French aviation behemoth Dassault.

Rolls-Royce has claimed that all the completed ‘Pearl 10X’ tests so far have confirmed the engine’s reliability, apart from meeting the performance requirements to power Dassault’s upcoming flagship business jet called the ‘Falcon 10X’.

The development phases of the ‘Pearl 10X’ engine have so far seen its new ultra-low emissions ALM combustor being put under rigorous tests. The combustor is dubbed to be 100% compatible with Sustainable Aviation Fuel and the engine’s new accessory gearbox will also allow additional power extraction.

The engine reportedly surpassed its target thrust levels on its maiden trial run earlier in 2023 and once certified for production, will be the most powerful business aviation power plant in the whole Rolls-Royce portfolio.

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Companies are moving beyond solutions like planting trees to decrease the environmental impact of flying. Aviation sector is increasingly providing corporate customers with the ability to buy SAF unrelated to specific trips.

Given the scarcity of SAF, which uses feedstocks like cooking oils to reduce emissions from conventional fuel by up to 80%, but is only available at a select number of airports worldwide, the industry is moving toward a “book and claim” accounting system.

Five corporations will pay more under a recent agreement announced by Qantas Airways to decrease their emissions by paying for the aircraft to use SAF supplied by BP at London’s Heathrow Airport.

The interested businesses are eligible to claim an emissions reduction that can be applied to several possible projects unrelated to their business trips from London to Australia.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a participant who is also purchasing SAF from fuel providers SkyNRG and Neste, as well as United Airlines, said it was seeking to scale the SAF market to accomplish its own goals.

Another Qantas partner, Australia Post, stated that it would utilise the credits to lower its air freight emissions when SAF is not accessible in Australia.

Similar programs are offered by an increasing number of airlines.

SAF only made up 0.5% of aviation fuel in 2021, but several airlines aim for 10% by 2030, and the industry needs SAF to make up 65% of energy to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050.

Corporations account for about 20% of air travel globally and 30% in Europe, so corporate sector interest might help the SAF industry scale up, according to Denise Auclair, corporate travel campaign manager at the European non-governmental organisation Transport & Environment.

Few airlines, including Scandinavia’s SAS and Finnair, allow individual customers, such as vacationers, to pay for SAF to lower flying emissions.

According to Sami Jauhiainen, vice president of APAC at Neste’s renewable aviation company, companies pay a “green premium” when they purchase SAF given that it costs roughly three to five times more than conventional jet fuel.

To collect SAF credits and prevent issues like double claiming, businesses can get into direct contracts with airlines, travel companies like American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) (GBTG.N), and fuel suppliers like Neste.

According to a World Economic Forum (WEF) white paper, double-claiming problems will become more severe as more nations enforce a specific amount of SAF mixed in all aviation fuel. For example, the European Union will impose a 2% minimum starting in 2025, whereas France already has a 1% requirement.

In the most significant book and claim pilot to date, Amex GBT collaborated with Shell and Accenture to develop a blockchain-based platform to guarantee that certificates purchased by corporate customers are non-fungible.

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Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, which represents the majority of the airlines, urged Europe to act more quickly to increase the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is now in short supply.

As a result of higher prices for conventional fossil-based jet fuel, airfares have already jumped this year.

“You cannot expect an industry making on average USD 1 profit per customer to absorb the increases we have seen,” Willie Walsh told reporters at an annual media briefing.

“Going forward as we see increases in carbon costs…there has to be an impact on ticket prices as the industry transitions to net zero. The airlines cannot absorb increased costs.”

Environmental groups contend that by reducing the increase in traffic, greater air travel prices will help to reduce emissions.

Willie Walsh applauded American efforts to increase the production of clean fuels, seemingly at odds with European concerns that new American incentives might create an unfair playing field.

“In the US it is recognized that Sustainable Aviation Fuels are part of the answer and they are heavily focused on additional production,” Willie Walsh said.

The European Union’s moves to oblige airports to provide more of the scarce SAF were criticized by Willie Walsh as “nonsense.”

“Europe’s answer to the problem penalizes people,” he said.

In July, the European Parliament endorsed regulations on aviation fuel that expanded the definition of what constitutes a “green fuel” and established mandatory deadlines for the replacement of kerosene with less polluting fuels.

In the United States, the Joe Biden administration has issued a government challenge to provide at least 3 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030.

The aviation industry is regarded as one of the hardest to decarbonize because the fuel used for flights cannot be easily substituted by other forms of energy.

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With the help of Honeywell’s technology, the US can reduce the cost of producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Given that other forms of power cannot easily substitute fuel, the aviation industry is regarded as one of the most challenging to decarbonise. Oil refiners have been striving to produce more SAF to reduce emissions.

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 sizable portions of the jet and diesel pools.”

Depending on the type of ethanol feedstock utilised, Honeywell claims that its method can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from jet fuel made from petroleum by 80% throughout its entire lifecycle. In the US, corn is primarily used to produce ethanol.

According to Honeywell’s news announcement, SAF facilities using Honeywell’s technology can be modularised offshore, resulting in reduced costs and quicker, less labour-intensive installation.

Companies can create new SAF capacity using this method more than a year faster than they could with conventional construction.

The report states that the new technology would also make it possible for fuel manufacturers and oil refiners to turn existing or new facilities into SAF production facilities.

The Biden administration started working on increasing output in September 2021 to have enough SAF by 2050 “to fulfill 100% of aviation fuel demand, currently anticipated to be roughly 35 billion gallons per year.”

Demand for SAF feedstocks will also probably increase due to the recent Inflation Reduction Act, a climate bill with incentives for low-carbon fuels.

Many manufacturers have opted to create sustainable aviation fuel using lower carbon-intensity feedstocks, like grease and animal fat.

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As customer awareness continues to grow, their demand increases. Climate change is real and talking a flight means you are contributing to climate change. Many demands change and a lot is going on at this moment from hydrogen-powered electric flights and battery-powered flights to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). However, all these solutions are still in the development stage and it will take a while before they could become commercially available.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel, on the other hand, is a solution that is already available today. It is compatible with existing aircraft engines and airport infrastructure and does not require any extra investments into these. The carbon emissions from the aviation industry contributes to about two percent of the world’s carbon emissions. It is a challenge and growing concerns for climate change has forced the industry to seek alternatives. Carriers across the globe are researching on SAF as it results in reduction in carbon emissions. Even though SAF has been in practice since 2008, it’s been used in small and insignificant amounts. But things are changing.

What has happened so far
For a long time, air travel’s primary source was fossil-derived liquid fuel.. Even though it has been proved to be a reliable power source for several years, it contributes significantly to climate change. This led to the need to transition from traditional fossil jet fuel to alternative sources of energy. Sustainable aviation fuel can reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent compared to fossil fuel. Another advantage of SAF is that it can be blended with traditional fossil jet fuel to substitute the existing fuels without redesigning the engine or the aircraft.

Aviation analyst Ameya Joshi and the founder of Network Thoughts, told International Finance that SAF is the future of aviation. However, the time taken towards achieving this is slower than anticipated. He added, “A lot of airlines have tried biofuel or green flights and have been successful, but it hasn’t become mainstream just yet.”

The first-ever flight that operated using SAF flew from London to Amsterdam in 2008. The commercial aircraft, Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747, flew using a 20 percent mix of biofuel derived from coconut and babassu oil. Since then, several airlines have operated using SAF or biofuel. Between 2011 and 2015, about 22 airlines served over 2,500 commercial passenger flights with blends of up to 50 percent SAF. The alternate fuel was produced from feedstock, including used cooking oil, jatropha, camelina, algae and sugarcane.

In 2016, Norway-based Oslo Airport installed a regular, sustainable fuel supply through the common hydrant system. Finland-based alternative fuel producer Neste, Netherlands-based supplier SkyNRG and Air BP of the UK were involved in the installation. In the same year, Chicago-based United Airlines became the first airline to introduce SAF into normal business operations by commencing daily flights from Los Angeles Airport that was supplied by AltAir of the US. Some airports such as Oslo, Stockholm, Brisbane and Los Angeles also agreed to provide SAF through their hydrant system.

Finland-based oil refining and marketing company Neste, which is also the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, has launched the first in-flight 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel emissions study on commercial passenger jet. According to a press release, Neste is investing approximately €190 million to upgrade its refineries which will enable it to produce up to 500,000 tons of SAF per annum.

Sustainable aviation fuel can help achieve climate goals
In 2009, the aviation industry adopted a set of goals to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced a four-pillar action plan to achieve these emission goals. One of them was the deployment of sustainable aviation fuels. In the year before the pandemic, the aviation industry produced 915 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and approximately contributed two percent of emissions globally. SAF comes as a game-changer in reducing the carbon footprint and other alternatives to traditional fuels such as hydrogen-powered and electric-powered flights.

In this regard, Jonathan Wood, Vice-President Renewable Aviation of Neste, told International Finance, “Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is a jet fuel made from sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials. It can be used as a drop-in fuel and is blended with fossil jet fuel and certified to meet ASTM jet fuel specifications.

“SAFs, in its neat form and over the life cycle, reduces life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent compared to fossil jet fuel use (calculated with established life cycle assessment LCA methodologies, among which EU RED and CORSIA).”

In 2016, IATA implemented the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). This was put in action to help the industry reduce carbon dioxide emissions to half by 2050. Carbon offsetting is when a company or an organisation compensates for their carbon emissions by purchasing credits from the carbon market. These carbon credits are generated by projects that reduce carbon emissions in any part of the world.

IATA estimated that without CORSIA, the carbon footprint of international aviation would increase from 600 million tonnes in 2020 to almost 900 million tonnes by 2035. Initially, the scheme was intended to be based on the average emission of 2019 and 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN decided to calculate the baseline only from the emissions data of 2019, which would be more accurate in nature without the border crossing restrictions that hindered the aviation industry later in 2020.

Wood added that aviation would remain vital for global business. Thus the aviation industry must look into the options to reduce carbon emissions, especially post-pandemic, to benefit the economic recovery. He said, “SAF provides an immediate greenhouse gas reduction, and it is available today, so the airline industry can start achieving their climate goals today.

“In addition to reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions related to the use of conventional jet fuel, sustainable aviation fuels also provide additional non-CO2 benefits. Local emissions are reduced as the use of SAF produces less particulate and sulphur emissions. The reduction in soot particulate emissions also leads to reduced contrail cirrus, which has additional climate benefits.”

However, there are also some skepticism associated with sustainable aviation fuels and its ability to meet climate change goals. In this regard, Jason Chua, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Universal Hydrogen told International Finance, “While synthetic aviation fuel (SAF) is considered a ‘green fuel,’ the best SAF implementations abate less than 40 percent of net emissions.

“SAF have demonstrated at best 80 percent offsetting of in-flight emissions, a 50 percent blend with traditional fuels, and immense areas of biomass. They have a long way to go toward carbon neutral and may never get there. SAF also do not mitigate NOx emissions which, at altitude, have a significant global warming impact.”

“In order to meet Paris Agreement commitments, you must take the carbon out of the fuel source. We considered numerous sustainable energy sources – from nuclear and wind power to batteries, hydrogen, and SAFs. It quickly became clear that the best, and only long-term answer to the aviation industry’s carbon emissions problem, is green hydrogen,” he added.

Production and its effects on the environment
The production of SAF is from sustainable feedstocks and is quite similar to the traditional aviation fuel. The feedstock of SAF range from municipal solid waste: from households and businesses, cellulosic waste: excess wood, agricultural and forestry residues, used cooking oil, cameline: an energy crop with high lipid oil content, jatropha: a plant that produces seeds that contain inedible lipid oil that can be used to produce fuel, halophytes: salt marsh grasses and other saline habitat species, algae and non-biological alternative fuels.

SAF is subjected to laboratory, ground and flight tests under internationally recognised standards to substitute fossil fuels. This alternative should suffice the qualities and characteristics of the traditional jet fuel to be eligible to replace it. The substitution ensures that the manufacturers need not rebuild or redesign the aircraft to benefit from SAF. Likewise, even the suppliers and airports can avoid rebuilding their fuel delivery systems. Once the SAF undergoes approval and certification, it is safe to be used as fuel in an aircraft.

The production of SAF, however, stirred concerns about deforestation among environmentalists. Certain biofuels that are produced from non-sustainable feedstocks might lead to deforestation. Palm oil is one prime example. Fuels produced in this manner are called drop-in fuels, which can be automatically incorporated into existing airport fueling systems. It meets the sustainability criteria like reducing lifecycle carbon emissions, limited freshwater requirements, elimination of competition with needed food production and no deforestation.

Commenting on the environmental concerns, Ameya Joshi said, “SAF from organic material does risk deforestation. However, afforestation is a known way of taking care of deforestation and is used in a couple of countries for decades. Since SAF cannot be created from just about anything in the forest, there will be dedicated plantations that will be used for the purpose.”

In this context, Wood added, “Neste’s sustainable aviation fuel is produced 100 percent from renewable waste and residue raw materials. Neste’s use of waste and residues mitigate the deforestation risk as their use reduces the need for land use changes. Neste has a very clear stand against actions that cause deforestation. We engage in proactive sustainability projects beyond our own supply chains to mitigate deforestation risk.”

Decarbonisation action from the governments
Due to the pandemic carbon emissions form the aviation industry have reduced, however, the numbers are expected to grow in the coming years due to increase in air travel. Moving forward, the role of governments in limiting the carbon emissions of aviation becomes crucial. Despite the success of a recent long-haul flight, SAF is currently limited to power short and medium-haul flights owing to financial constraints.

Governments and industrialists worldwide recognise the importance of a long-term plan to avoid the slow burn disaster of climate change. Implementing a systems-thinking perspective over reactionary policies in a short-term framework is challenging, and the transition of the aviation sector is also not easy. Effective collaboration of the public and private sectors across national borders can provide a lasting change. Yet, the power of implementation and designing long-term visions for sustainable aviation fuel for the aviation industry or other environmental policies are in the hands of the individual governments.

Regulatory harmonisation is essential to enable efficient operations and technology deployment, especially in an international sector like aviation. However, in supporting SAF, the available feedstock and energy sources vary significantly by geography. It is crucial that each economy devises market-appropriate policies to face the challenges.

The Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) recently released a report named Powering the Future of Flight. It presented six steps for the governments to help the aviation industry move towards a more sustainable path. The steps include foster research into new feedstock sources and refining processes, de-risk public and private investments in SAF, providing incentives for airlines to use SAF from an early stage, encourage stakeholders to commit to robust international sustainability criteria, understand local green growth opportunities and establish coalitions encompassing all parts of the supply chain.

So far, Europe has taken the lead in supporting the development of sustainable aviation fuel. From 2020 the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II (2020-2030) will apply a multiplier for producers making SAF rather than ground transport fuel. Moving towards the path of net-zero aviation, the UK government announced the Green Fuel, Green Skies competition in March 2021.

The aviation companies that produce SAF from wastes are supported by the government under the scheme. For the development of SAF production plants at scale, companies will be able to bid for a share of £15 million. A commission instituted by the Swedish government proposed a reduction obligation, Flightpath 2019. It sets a requirement for fuel producers to reduce their emissions by greater uptake of bio-jet fuel. Along with a blending mandate for each year from 2021 to 2030, the long-term goal of the Swedish government is to use 100 percent SAF by 2045.

The Norwegian government has also announced a blending mandate which requires jet fuel suppliers to blend at least 0.5 percent of SAF from 2020. It also aims to use 30 percent of SAF by 2035. To develop the SAF industry, the French government launched a roadmap that forecasts fossil fuel to be replaced with two percent of SAF from 2025, five percent in 2030 and 50 percent in 2050. Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany (AIREG) aims to substitute 10 percent of kerosene fuel with SAF nationwide by 2025. Under EU RED II, Spain also proposed an initiative called ‘the balanced compromise’. About two percent of the total supply of aviation fuel will be replaced with SAF in 2025. In Indonesia, the biofuel mandate aims to use two percent of bio-jet energy for aviation by 2018, three percent by 2020 and 5percent by 2025.

The future of sustainable aviation fuel
Currently, there are seven approved sustainable aviation fuel pathways that use a combination of different processes and feedstocks. Every pathway has an advantage ranging from the availability and cost of feedstock, cost of processes and carbon reductions. SAF pathways can help the aviation industry reduce carbon emissions and achieve the goals set by IATA.

Joshi stated that “The next five years should see airlines along with aircraft and engine manufacturers invest in more research towards what kind of blend is possible and the benefits it sees over short, medium and long haul sectors.” However, there will be some scale back on investments and research as the aviation industry has suffered the most in the pandemic situation, he added. SAF can soon be considered to be used as a mainstream fuel throughout the nation in few countries worldwide.

The ever-changing prices of crude oil and the demand and supply are some of the limitations of using fossil fuel in the aviation industry. SAF as an alternative fuel proves to have a more diverse geographic supply as its production is not limited to the drilling of fossil fuels. Feedstocks of this sustainable option, generated from wastes, can be grown or produced anywhere in the world and transported easily into the supply chains.

The aviation industry depends on a single energy source. The fluctuating price of crude oil makes it difficult to plan aviation budgets for the long term. SAF reduces the aviation industry’s exposure to fuel cost volatility. On a social level, SAF can help developing countries strategise waste management systems, which are a primary environmental concern. It also helps in creating job opportunities.

SAF provides multiple economic benefits to geographic locations that are marginal or unviable land for food crops. At the same time, it has to be suitable to grow SAF crops. The massive generation of municipal waste is also a potential SAF producing source. Thus, developing countries will benefit the most from SAF production without negatively impacting their local food production ability.

In 2019, The World Economic Forum launched the Clean Skies for Tomorrow (CST) initiative as a coalition across the value chain of aviation to boost the transition to net-zero flying 2050. It partnered with senior leaders from the industry, government and civil society to draft principles to achieve zero-emissions aviation through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and other clean propulsion technologies.

Wood said, “We see a growing demand for SAF in the market, which is why we are expanding our production capacity. Neste’s current MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel production capacity is 100,000 tons (approximately 34 million gallons) annually. With the investment projects at Neste’s Singapore and Rotterdam refineries, Neste will have the capacity to produce some 1.5 million tons (515 million gallons) of SAF annually by the end of 2023.”

In conclusion, the history of the aviation industry is on the verge of making a remarkable step to promote sustainability in the sector. Yet, the challenge of commercialising SAF still remains. It is highly possible that a significant supply of alternative fuel in the traditional jet fuel mix can be achieved in the near future. With the help of their governments, stakeholders and airlines should identify feedstock and fuel suppliers to enhance the low-carbon and alternate future for flight.

SAF could improve air quality and meet emission targets set by international aviation associations and state governments for a sustainable future. As soon as the environmental benefits and commercial demands are highlighted, the SAF supply chain can be expected to be prevalent in the industry.

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ANA President and chief executive Shinya Katanozaka told the media, “Sustainability and innovation are both central components of our vision at ANA HD, and we are excited about the opportunity to make meaningful change as we work to advance our ambitious ESG agenda. Achieving net zero emissions will require us to pursue a number of initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint across the organisation, but our entire team is committed to doing all we can to make ANA HD an example of sustainability in our practices.”

ANA is also planning to increase the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Even though SAF is more expensive than traditional jet fuel, it is sustainable and more and more carriers across the globe are expected to start using it.

Last month, it was reported that ANA is planning to operate its Boeing 777 freighter to Los Angeles from its base at Tokyo Narita Airport. The first flight to Los Angeles is expected to take off on April 23rd.

In this regard, Toshiaki Toyama, Executive Vice President of ANA and President of ANA Cargo told the media, “A number of factors have led to increased demand for cargo flights connecting Japan and North America…We are proud to have a fleet of capable aircraft that is able to meet the demand and support global supply chains in operation at this critical time.”

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