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IRFA calls for carbon pipeline projects to unlock full potential of SAF

A leader in the biofuels industry says the sustainable aviation fuel market faces some roadblocks.

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says, “There’s one single thing we can do that will unlock the SAF market for US corn ethanol, and that’s carbon capture and sequestration.”

He says carbon pipeline projects will be key. “(It) cuts the carbon intensity of US corn ethanol by more than half. Even if all those other things don’t come to fruition, that one single thing puts US corn ethanol in the game. It makes it eligible to be a SAF feedstock.”

Speaking at a National Biobased Products Day event, hosted by Landus, Shaw said sustainable aviation fuel could be a groundbreaking market for agriculture. “We’re talking about a market that can pull in billions of gallons. We’re talking about a market that can literally power the rural economy for the next 20 to 30 years.”

The airline industry has set a goal of using three billion gallons of the fuel annually by 2030, but only 20 million gallons is currently being produced in the U.S.