Breaking barriers in SAF

When the aviation industry talks about cutting carbon, the conversation inevitably turns to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Long seen as one of the most promising routes to decarbonising flight, SAF has historically struggled with scalability, cost and complexity. However, in a lab at the University of Alberta, a young researcher believes those barriers are finally beginning to fall. The research, conducted under the supervision of Prof. David C. Bressler, focuses on advancing the lipid-tohydrocarbon (LTH) process for renewable fuel production. PhD student Bernardo Souto and his colleagues at the Biorefining Conversions and Fermentation Laboratory (Bressler’s lab) have been working hand-in-hand with analytical technology giant PerkinElmer to unlock a new way of producing renewable jet fuel. The collaboration, which began under the Alberta Biojet Initiative (ABI), has led to a major breakthrough in how wa ste fats and oils can be converted into high-quality, ready-to-use aviation fuel. “It’s an incredibly exciting time,” said Souto at the start of his discussion with...