European Union's biomass availability for Sustainable Aviation Fuel production and potential GHG emissions reduction in the aviation sector

Abstract

To be the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the European Union (EU) should decarbonize the aviation sector. According to the ReFuel initiative, sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are crucial in reducing carbon emissions from the sector. The Clean Sky 2 program by the EU commission, shortlisted four promising technologies - hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), Fischer–Tropsch (FT), fast pyrolysis (FP), and alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) for the production of SAFs from bio-based sources. This study addresses the potential of these four technologies to reduce net and total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the aviation sector. With a focus on mapping feedstock availability in 33 European countries for meeting the national demand in 2030. The investigation identified the best pathway combinations for each country, having the highest GHG emissions reduction while satisfying fuel demand when considering different degrees of biomass competition. Without any political and economic barriers to SAF production and biomass competition, we estimated a sufficient biomass supply exists to support the European SAF demand across all forecasted scenarios in 2030.