Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production?

Pominville-Racette, Mathieu; Overend, Ralph; Achouri, Inès Esma; Abatzoglou, Nicolas

doi:10.3390/en18154156

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Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production?

¹

Department of Chemical & Biotechnological Engineering, University de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QC J1K2R1, Canada

²

Nextfuels LCC, Los Altos, CA 94022, USA

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Energies 2025, 18(15), 4156; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154156

Submission received: 26 May 2025 / Revised: 23 July 2025 / Accepted: 30 July 2025 / Published: 5 August 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Approaches to Energy and Environment Economics)

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Abstract

Hydrotreated ester and fatty acids to jet (HEFA-tJ) is presently the most developed and economically attractive pathway to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). An ongoing systematic study of the critical variables of different pathways to SAF has revealed significantly lower greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential for the HEFA-tJ pathway compared to competing markets using the same resources for road diesel production. Moderate yield variations between air and road pathways lead to several hundred thousand tons less GHG reduction per project, which is generally not evaluated thoroughly in standard environmental assessments. This work demonstrates that, although the HEFA-tJ market seems to have more attractive features than biodiesel/renewable diesel, considerable viability risks might manifest as HEFA-tJ fuel market integration rises. The need for more transparent data and effort in this regard, before envisaging making decisions regarding the volume of HEFA-tJ production, is emphasized. Overall, reducing the carbon intensity of road diesel appears to be less capital-intensive, less risky, and several times more efficient in reducing GHG emissions.

Keywords: sustainable aviation fuels; technical and economic analysis; sustainability evaluation methodology; CORSIA; palm oil; biofuels

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MDPI and ACS Style

Pominville-Racette, M.; Overend, R.; Achouri, I.E.; Abatzoglou, N. Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production? Energies 2025, 18, 4156. https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154156

AMA Style

Pominville-Racette M, Overend R, Achouri IE, Abatzoglou N. Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production? Energies. 2025; 18(15):4156. https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154156

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pominville-Racette, Mathieu, Ralph Overend, Inès Esma Achouri, and Nicolas Abatzoglou. 2025. "Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production?" Energies 18, no. 15: 4156. https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154156

APA Style

Pominville-Racette, M., Overend, R., Achouri, I. E., & Abatzoglou, N. (2025). Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production? Energies, 18(15), 4156. https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154156

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Hydroprocessed Ester and Fatty Acids to Jet: Are We Heading in the Right Direction for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production?

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