No Blends This Time, Just Pure Synthesized Fuel

Gulfstream Aerospace capped the "world’s first trans-Atlantic flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)" this month, using one of their G600 aircraft on a leg between Savannah, Georgia and England's Farnborough Airport.

Gulfstream's mission made use of their G600's standard Pratt & Whitney PW815GA engines, allowing them to gain extended flight data for a pure SAF fuel. In the past, similar flights have been done on a blend of traditional Jet A/SAF blends, generally below a ratio of 50%. The use of pure SAF takes advantage of more domestic logistics chains, lower carbon, sulfur, and aromatics compared to standard petroleum products.

The fuel used on the endurance mission came courtesy of World Energy, comprising 100% Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (neat HEFA in industry parlance). The resulting SAF sports at least "70% lower lifecycle CO2 emissions than fossil-based jet fuel" while requiring "zero added aromatics". While somewhat uninteresting to the passenger, the bizjet realm's aim of hitting net zero emissions output will hopefully forestall onerous regulations over the coming decades - and freedom to fly is of interest to every Gulfstream client.

“Gulfstream is innovating for a sustainable future,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “One of the keys to reaching business aviation’s long-term decarbonization goals is the broad use of SAF in place of fossil-based jet fuel. The completion of this world-class flight helps to advance business aviation’s overarching sustainability mission and create positive environmental impacts for future generations.”

“Gulfstream continues to break new ground in the sustainable aviation space, and we applaud them for completing this mission as we work to validate the compatibility of our engines with unblended SAF,” said Anthony Rossi, vice president, Sales & Marketing for Pratt & Whitney Canada.

FMI: www.gulfstream.com