A recent American Airlines passenger flight from Corpus Christi International Airport in Texas to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport has demonstrated the potential for electricity- and waste carbon-based sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) to be used in commercial aviation, Auto Evolution reported.
The flight used eSAF produced by clean-fuels company Infinium at its Pathfinder facility in Corpus Christi. The fuel was blended with conventional jet fuel and supplied through the airport’s existing fuelling infrastructure, without requiring changes to the aircraft or its engines.
Unlike conventional sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is generally produced from bio-based feedstocks, eSAF is made using captured waste carbon dioxide and renewable electricity.
At the Pathfinder facility, renewable power generated from wind and solar resources is used to produce e-fuels, while waste CO2 is supplied by neighbouring energy company Howard Energy Partners.
The flight marked the first real-world deployment of Infinium’s eSAF and the first delivery in the US of SAF produced without bio-based feedstock to a commercial airport.
Like other drop-in sustainable aviation fuels, eSAF must be blended with conventional jet fuel in accordance with certification requirements before being used in existing aircraft.
American Airlines and Infinium have already signed an offtake agreement for commercial volumes of eSAF from Infinium’s planned Project Roadrunner in West Texas.
The project, which is under construction, will convert an existing gas-to-liquid facility into a clean-fuels plant powered by dedicated wind and solar assets. It will also use captured emissions from industrial operators in the region.
Production at Roadrunner is scheduled to begin in 2027, with planned annual output of more than 5 million gallons of eSAF.
Infinium says its eSAF can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90% compared with fossil-based jet fuel. The company is also developing eDiesel for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and eNaphtha for industrial applications, including plastics and solvents.
The US milestone follows a similar development in Europe, where KLM last month operated the first commercial passenger flight using eSAF supplied by a European producer.
The developments highlight growing efforts by airlines and fuel producers to develop aviation fuels that can substantially reduce carbon emissions while working with existing aircraft and airport infrastructure.
