FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL
Quarter Four 2014
16
Direct Sugar to
Hydrocarbon:
There are currently three ASTM-certified pathways through which to produce
renewable jet fuel. They are: Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch hydroprocess route,
UOP’s Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) and Direct Sugar to
Hydrocarbon (DSHC), pioneered by the partnership between Total and Amy-
ris. These are all drop-in solutions, meaning that they can be used with no
changes to the airplane, engine or ground infrastructure—they act the same
as petroleum-based jet fuel. DSHC is the latest, having only received ap-
proval from ASTM International in June.
By Alison Gaines
Secunda, South Africa.
Nine years prior, Sasol had
been using a blend—CTL mixed
with crude oil-derived kerosene—
on international flights from
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Due to the blend’s success as well
as years of testing, authorities,
including the United Kingdom’s
Ministry of Defense, approved
the use of the full synthetic,
calling it Jet A-1, for commercial
use. ASTM then included it in its
new standard D7566, Standard
Specification for Aviation Turbine
Fuels Containing Synthesized
Hydrocarbons.
UOP, a division of Honeywell
based in Des Plaines, Ill., USA,
developed the HEFA process.
The product is called “Honeywell
Green Jet Fuel,” and ASTM gave
its approval in 2011. It can use
both first-generation feedstocks,
which compete with food supply,
and second-generation feedstocks,
which are non-food biomass like
camelina, algae and jatropha.
At 50% blend, it is a drop-in
replacement for petroleum-based
fuel and produces 65 to 85% less
greenhouse gas emissions.
The process, which began as
a Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) project
to produce military jet fuel from
renewable sources, involves
removing the oxygen from the
feedstock and further refining it.
Its first demonstration flight was
in 2008, and since then, several
airlines, as well as the U.S. Navy
and Air Force, have used the
green jet fuel for several one-time
flights. UOP has licensed the
process to oil refiners and biofuel
developers.
Since 2011 when HEFA
received ASTM approval, more
than 1,500 commercial passenger
flights have taken off with a blend
of biofuel produced by HEFA.
Amyris, based in Emeryville,
Calif., USA, and Total, based in
Courbevoie, France, partnered to
produce the jet fuel most recently
certified by ASTM. Total owns
18% of Amyris and provides
funding and experts for the
project. In 2013, they formed a
joint venture called Total Amyris
Biosolutions B.V. for the purpose
of producing and marketing
renewable jet fuel.
Currently the aviation
sector is perched on the edge of
what some industry players call
the “valley of death,” which lies
between the knowledge and desire
for biofuels in the industry and
really being able to use them on
a significant commercial scale.
Partly because the commercial
quantities are so small, these
three alternative jet fuels are more
expensive than their petroleum-
based counterpart.
Sasol was formed in the 1950s
to commercialize gas-to-liquid
(GTL) technology using coal as
feedstock in South Africa, an area
rich in coal. The company is the
largest producer of fuel in the
world using the Fischer-Tropsch
process. The process centers on a
reaction in which carbon monoxide
and hydrogen gases, with the help
of a cobalt catalyst, are converted to
long-chain paraffins.
In 2009 Sasol became the
first company to receive ASTM
approval for 100% synthetic
jet fuel using its coal-to-liquid
(CTL) process at Sasol’s facility in
The latest ASTM-certified renewable jet fuel
F E A T U R E
