ORLANDO — The growing demand for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) should lead to a depletion of traditional raw materials and leverage development slated for new production routes, Andrea Bozzano, Honeywell's Chief Technology Officer, said Tuesday (24/5).

An estimate by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) points to a jump in global demand for APS from 100 million liters per year in 2021 to 5 billion liters in 2025.

By 2050, 60% of aviation biofuel produced in Europe should come from renewable sources.

"The question is, how do we get there? Residual fat and used cooking oil will not be enough. We need to look at different raw materials and technologies that will take us there."

According to Bozzano, among the options on the horizon is the conversion of biomass, such as forest and agricultural waste, into low-carbon crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel drop in, that is, that can replace 100% conventional kerosene.

In September last year, the Texas-based technology company partnered with United Airlines and Alder Fuels to accelerate production at scale.

United has committed to buying 1.5 billion gallons of SAF over 20 years, produced by Alder in partnership with Honeywell.

"The chemistry here is more challenging, but the potential is much greater. What we are doing now is working in our laboratories to develop this in partnership with companies of so-called 'older fuels' and we hope to market the technology with them in the coming years," he added.

Company targets methane monitoring in decarbonization market

Honeywell today announced (24/5) the Emissions Control and Reduction Initiative designed to help the gas oil industry meet its carbon neutrality goals. The initiative is focused on upstream, midstream and downstream operations and targets fugitive methane emissions.

Honeywell's methane detection solution will be available to customers in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global methane emissions from the energy sector are approximately 70% higher than the amount officially reported by governments.

• Methane is a greenhouse gas about 25 times more potent than CO2 in retaining heat in the atmosphere.

The main problem is in the measurement: each country is free to use different methodologies to make its estimates. In addition, data collection is based on estimates and equations, not on actual measurements.

"The challenge is: are we calculating emissions correctly? Can I calculate them in real time? These are the starting conditions," says Jason Urso, Honeywell's vice president of Process Solution.

He explains that monitoring emissions is critical to showing where they are and effectively reducing methane leakage. "It's more of an instrumentation issue," he adds.

Source: epbr