Techno-economic and Carbon Intensity Analysis of CO2-derived Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Techno-economic and Carbon Intensity Analysis of CO2-derived Sustainable Aviation Fuel | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Techno-economic and Carbon Intensity Analysis of CO 2 -derived Sustainable Aviation Fuel Jitendra Joshi, Qiqing Shen, Sahil Garg, Tejas Bhatelia, Biao Sun This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4948501/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The aviation industry’s pursuit of achieving net zero hinges on large-scale and economical production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This study provides a comparative evaluation of the sustainability implications of SAF production pathways, particularly focusing on the integration of renewable energy sources and the potential for carbon emissions reduction. We investigated a three-step Alcohol-to-Jet pathway that integrates a thermochemical process to produce syngas (a mixture of CO and H2) from CO2 and a biological process to ferment syngas to ethanol, which is then converted to SAF via Alcohol-to-Jet. When compared with the industrially well-known Fischer-Tropsch process, the three-step Alcohol-to-Jet pathway demonstrates 1.6 times higher SAF yield and over 7% higher energy efficiency. Although the three-step Alcohol-to-Jet pathway has higher capital cost due to syngas fermentation, it produces SAF with the levelized cost of supply 14%-25% lower compared to Fischer-Tropsch pathway. Carbon intensity analysis shows that, to achieve comparable emissions as conventional jet fuel, at least 84.6% of the power used in SAF production must come from renewable sources. When renewable power is limited, utilizing methane as a feedstock can reduce overall emissions of SAF. Additionally, our findings on SAF economics highlight the necessity of policy interventions and incentives to advance SAF and renewable energy in the aviation sector. Scientific community and society/Business and industry/Technology Physical sciences/Engineering/Chemical engineering Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy modelling Scientific community and society/Energy and society/Energy economics Scientific community and society/Scientific community/Policy Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. Q.S., S.G., and J.J have financial interest in Woodside Energy. Supplementary Files TEAandCIAnalysisofCO2derivedSAFSupplementaryData.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4948501","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":355023604,"identity":"de07b4f0-df5c-4365-bf5b-a2d62a930037","order_by":0,"name":"Jitendra 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