Shell Game of SAF Storage Shows That Nascent Fuel Industry Requires Some Planning At This Stage

Boeing was pleased to announce the purchase of 9.4 million gallons of blended sustainable jet fuel for use in its US commercial operations, offering a small pocket positive PR in a never ending slurry of drama.

The blended fuel sports a 70/30 split, with the lesser portion coming from waste by-products like kitchen fats, greases, oils, and the like. All 10 million gallons will be put into the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program, for one, with the rest spread out over company flights when they can use it. Interestingly, Boeing couldn't just grab all of that fuel in one place, having to spread out their total order across their own facilities and partner tanks. Boeing's own fuel facilities in the Pacific Northwest will see 4 million gallons, while Neste will ship 2.5 million to EPIC Fuels and 1.5 million to Avfuel. From the looks of it, Neste got the whale's portion of this sale, though World Energy's World Fuel Services got a significant chunk of the action too, almost 2 million gallons' worth.

"As our focus remains on safety and quality, sustainability continues to be a priority," said Ryan Faucett, vice president of environmental sustainability at Boeing. "Sustainable aviation fuel is essential to decarbonize aviation. About 20% of our fuel usage is a SAF blend, and we continue to increase our use of this fuel to encourage growth in the SAF industry. We are also working to make SAF more available and affordable to our commercial airline customers through collaboration, investment, research and policy development."

It's an interesting study in some of the organization that's required just to implement a new version of aviation fuel in a highly matured industry. Simply segregating the SAF for use in operations that allow it requires someone to store it, and when it remains an unorthodox product on the market, they won't be able to sell it as quickly, or hassle-free as they do traditional Jet A. That won't last forever, of course, but it's always interesting to appreciate being on the ground floor of any historic shift just to say "I remember when..."

FMI: www.boeing.com