Will Sustainable Aviation Fuel Have a Big Impact on Agriculture?
January 5, 2022 Back in 2007, I remember the buzz created when ethanol demand began to take off in earnest. At the time, there was plenty of excitement over the market possibilities this presented to U.S. agriculture.
Ultimately, ethanol demand didn’t expand that quickly, and agriculture looked to other market drivers instead. Now, however, it seems as if another agricultural opportunity is about to take off – literally.
Late last year, United Airlines successfully completed its first flight running on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a 100% renewable fuel made from products such as cooking oil, vegetable oil, and soybean oil. According to United CEO Scott Kirby, this represented an effort by the airline to reduce the company’s carbon footprint, pointing out that it was a better alternative than using batteries.
“This an important and historic moment for global aviation,” said Kirby in a press release announcing the SAF-powered flight. “There’s simply no battery technology, even theoretical technology, that has enough energy density that you could put enough batteries on the airplane to get an airplane this big with this many people flying this far. And so, what works in a lot of other transportation industries won’t work for aviation.”
Loading ...The sustainable aviation fuel used by United was made from sugar and corn instead of soybean oil, but market watchers predict the jet fuel industry could mean big business for U.S. growers in the years ahead. Analysts believe SAF could lead to higher demand for such crops as soybeans and corn that are needed to produce SAF-type products. At present, according to government statistics, the U.S. is only producing 12 to 14 billion pounds of the necessary products annually. If SAF becomes more widespread, observers say the industry will need to produce approximately 40 billion pounds each year.
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