Calgary startup aims to launch sustainable aviation fuel facilities on the Prairies

For anyone who has flown with United Airlines over the last year or so, you've likely seen the in-flight video promoting the com‐ pany's first Chief Trash Of‐ ficer - Oscar the Grouch.

It's all part of a marketing campaign to promote the air‐ line's ambitions to use more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the future. SAF is bio‐ fuel that can be made from food waste and agricultural products. It's more expensive than jet fuel, but it's less pol‐ luting and can already be used by aircraft without any engine modifications.

It's one of many potential low-carbon fuels that was a point of focus at the CER‐ AWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston this week. SAF could potentially help reduce emissions, but faces many challenges and years of development before eventually perhaps becoming mainstream.

Calgary-based startup Cap Clean Energy wants to pro‐ duce SAF in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba using crop residue, such as wheat straw and other byproducts of grains and oil seeds. Typically, they tend to be chopped up and put back on the fields or used for ani‐ mal bedding. Other com‐ panies have used corn or sugar cane.

At CERAWeek, Cap Clean Energy announced a collabo‐ ration with ABB, a global elec‐ trification and automation company with more 100,000 employees.

At this point, the startup is in the early development stages, with a target of begin‐ ning production in 2027. For now, Cap Clean Energy is pur‐ suing government grants, raising investment and devel‐ oping the overall project. For a startup with just two em‐ ployees, there are many hur‐ dles to overcome.

"It's a challenge, but we see a lot of business oppor‐ tunities," said company presi‐ dent and CEO Steve Polvi, pointing to the aviation in‐ dustry's growing emissions.

"For those companies, it makes a huge difference. When you look at their op‐ tions to decarbonize, it's a very hard to abate sector," said Polvi, in an interview in Houston. "They absolutely need sustainable aviation fuel to achieve their goals."

Air transport represents between two and three per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, although there is concern that number could grow as air travel expands. The United States has set a goal of producing 11 billion litres of SAF per year by 2030.

"It's not only large com‐ panies that are going to be key to making some of these low carbon industries go for‐ ward," said Brandon Spencer, president of the energy divi‐ sion at ABB, about partnering with a startup.

"That's the exciting thing about the energy transition," he said.

The carbon footprint of SAF varies depending on the production method and the transportation of the fuel, al‐ though it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 85 per cent compared to conventional jet fuel.

In Canada, the federal government's Aviation Cli‐ mate Action Plan points to how SAF could help with de‐ carbonizing aviation. A coali‐ tion of air carriers wants the government to help promote the production of the fuel.

Trudeau International Air‐ port in Montreal began pro‐ viding SAF in 2016, while Pearson International Airport in Toronto began providing it in 2021.

Producing SAF is one chal‐ lenge, but there's also the need to transport the fuel to airports and ensure the price is reasonable enough that airlines will actually buy it.

There are also concerns about the inconsistency of agricultural waste products, and whether passengers will pay more for flights using a lower-carbon fuel.

Those are some of the reasons this type of fuel also has its detractors.

LISTEN | Can sustain‐ able fuel reduce the cost of air travel?:

Calgary-based Enbridge is involved in many energy-re‐ lated businesses and projects, from fossil fuels and hydrogen to renewables and carbon sequestration, but president Greg Ebel isn't in‐ terested in SAF right now be‐ cause it doesn't make finan‐ cial sense.

"When it comes to air‐ lines, I think people will be extremely careful in trying new fuels," he said. "[Airlines] are finding ways to make planes more efficient and that's probably the better way to go."

Still, the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization is targeting a "long-term global aspira‐ tional goal" of net-zero car‐ bon emissions by 2050.

Transitioning to SAF is a big part of that, especially considering how the long dis‐ tances and the immense power required by aircraft don't lend themselves easily to electrification. Hydrogen is another potential energy source, although its develop‐ ment for aviation is still in its infancy.