U.S. commercial aviation is charting an ambitious flight plan to net-zero emissions by the year 2050 using synthetic liquid fuels rather than batteries or fuel cells envisioned for trucking and consumer automobiles.

“Those [electric] technologies do not work across the entire space of what we know as aviation,” said Steve Csonka, executive director of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), an industry effort that began in 2006.

Appearing Thursday in a webinar presented by the Washington-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Csonka said electrification may be fine for “some very modestly sized vehicles.”

“Electrification, however, does not offer the energy density per weight compared to synthetic liquid aviation fuels already available in limited volumes but with the potential to ramp up production in the coming years,” he said.

Steve Csonka, CAAFI | EESI

Synthetic aviation fuels (SAFs) are already available and offer an 80% reduction in emissions compared to jet fuels produced from petroleum, he said. The industry’s long-term goals are now achievable, he said, given the federal “grand challenge” targeting the production of 3 billion gallons annually by 2030 and ongoing research by several federal agencies working with the industry.

“We have offtake agreements [to purchase SAF] for between five and 15 years from the airlines … before any concrete is put in the ground. This is a fundamental, unique thing that the aviation enterprise is offering to potential producers to have that level of offtake commitment,” Csonka said.

“Aviation understands how some of the other technologies that spin around this space like power, liquids, biomass, energy, carbon capture and sequestration, [and] direct air capture and sequestration sort of fit into the rubric of the things that aviation is interested in.”

Csonka said that original equipment manufacturers, including the Department of Defense, are continuing to help fund fundamental research and development. The Pentagon funded initial research nearly 20 years ago.

“We’re talking about being able to continue to make aviation turbine fuel [jet fuel]. Why is that important? Because it allows us to have a drop-in approach with no changes required to infrastructure equipment.

“I don’t have to rebuild every airport in the world to bring in a new type of fuel. I don’t have to replace every airplane in the world. … I can get my carbon reduction by using a drop in fuel that has a lower greenhouse gas impact. We also want to do this sustainably.

“How do we do that? Instead of pulling hydrocarbon molecules out of the ground in the form of petroleum and then refining those to fuel products, we’re reaching into our own biosphere and picking up hydrocarbon molecules from things that nature hands us or using recycled components from the things that we do as a natural course,” he said.

Those sources include municipal solid waste, forestry residues, agricultural waste, food processing waste and cellulosic crops.