ABC News Breakfast report on Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Associate Director of CSIRO Futures, Max Temminghoff appeared on ABC News Breakfast to inform on Sustainable Aviation Fuel and a recent SAF flight from London to New York.

Read the interview transcript:

Presenter: Well, it's estimated the aviation industry contributes two and a half percent of global carbon emissions, a figure expected to double by 2050. But it was calls for a lot of celebration when a jetliner last year flew from London to New York powered by a high fat natural fuel. So, could this help save the planet? And importantly, Lower ticket prices? To tell us more, we're joined by the Associate Director of CSIRO Futures, Max Temminghoff. Max, very good morning to you. Tell us about this flight.

Max Temminghoff: A flight from London to New York, they used a sustainable aviation fuel. Now, sustainable aviation fuel is a safe replacement for conventional jet fuel. And instead of being derived from crude oil, they use replenishable feedstocks or ingredients. So, in this case, they use a range of used cooking oils and animal fats. But we can basically use anything that has carbon and hydrogen in it, things like ethanol or residues left after agriculture or forestry activity. So, a successful flight, also successful in the sense that it covered quite a distance. And quite remarkably, it used 100% SAF. And so currently it's only certified to be used up to 50%. They're currently working to make it 100%, but this proves that it is possible.

Presenter: Okay, so where does this natural fuel stand in terms of the wider aviation fuel market are pretty tiny, I'm guessing?

Max Temminghoff: So, far less than 1% is what we're currently seeing, and it has taken a while to get us to this point. But we are seeing a lot of reassuring activity at the moment, both in Europe, the US and across Asia.

Presenter: What are the barriers to scaling up this type of fuel in the years and the decades ahead?

Max Temminghoff: First challenge is price. So, currently we're looking at about a two to three times the cost of conventional jet fuel. So, ensuring that this doesn't hit aviation bottom line too hard.
Airlines, half of their costs are fuel. So, getting that sorted is one of the big challenges. And another challenge is long term supply issues. So, with crude oil for 30 years, you generally know how much you're going to have and you can harvest it, rain, hail or shine. But with sustainable aviation fuel and things that go into it, it's susceptible to things like drought and other conditions. And so it's difficult to know how much you're going to have and for how long.

Presenter: So, the inputs can be quite variable is what you say. So, what sort of work has been done in Australia, through the CSIRO, through the scientists there?

Max Temminghoff: In terms of making this more of a reality in the years ahead, one of the things we're looking at is this long term supply issue. So, what we want to do is not put all of our eggs in one basket. So, how can we design these plants to take on a variety of feedstocks? So, how do we do it? So, on Monday they take municipal solid waste, Tuesday they take forestry residues. How can we design these plants to diversify this portfolio and reduce that risk? That's certainly something we're working on, and it's the same ability aspect. There's no point in doing this if these fuels are not, in fact, sustainable. So, we're working on making sure that these processes are sustainable and the feedstocks that we're using are sustainable. So, we have a very real prospect, of course, stretching into decades, into the future, of gradually decarbonising the aviation sector.

Presenter: If all the ducks are lined up here?

Max Temminghoff: Correct. And especially Australia already we export all of our animal fat to Singapore and the US be turned into jet fuel. So, there's probably a plane flying around right now on Australian products. And we also have a lot of agricultural outputs that can also be turned into jet fuel. So, we're in a pretty unique position to really make a big opportunity out of this and cut our emissions, most importantly.

Presenter: Well, all the best in the future research efforts, Max Temminghoff, thanks very much for joining us.