EUROPEAN CIVIL AVIATION CONFERENCE - CONFÉRENCE EUROPÉENNE DE L'AVIATION CIVILE

Analysing the potential of sustainable aviation fuels of non-biological origin

Videoconference, 22 February 2023 — The 16th monthly familiarisation webinar on basic knowledge on aviation and the environment focused on understanding the nature of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) of non-biological origin, such as e-fuels, and on analysing their potential to contribute to aviation’s climate goals.

The ECAC Secretariat presented the different types of SAF that can fall under such categorisation, highlighting that, in addition to SAF made from biomass, SAF can also be produced using a large amount of energy and CO2 as feedstock, either taken via direct air capture (DAC) or from industrial gases. Those types of fuels are commonly known as e-fuels, power-to-liquid, synthetic aviation fuels or other nomenclatures depending on different jurisdictions.

Guest speakers from the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD presented the new ITF report, The Potential of E-fuels to Decarbonise Ships and Aircraft. The German PtX Lab Lausitz also provided an overview of the current efforts to scale up sustainable synthetic kerosene (PtL) in Germany.

The webinar attracted 89 participants from ECAC Member States, organisations and stakeholders, and included a dynamic Q&A session.