Brazil readies ethanol for green jet fuel, rocking US rivals

THE United States made a huge technological leap forward this year with the launch of the world’s first plant that makes sustainable jet fuel from ethanol—but it’s Brazilian farmers, not American ones, who’ll initially reap the benefits.

Although the Lanzajet Inc. facility in rural Georgia is able to process ethanol made from American-grown corn, it will likely run on mostly sugarcane ethanol imported from Brazil when it first ramps up to commercial production. That’s because many of the largest Brazilian mills have already been certified to make feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that meets official international and domestic standards.

Sao Martinho SA says it expects to be first to be able to supply the US’S nascent SAF market. It has received the necessary certifications—including the globally accepted Corsia standard, established by the United Nation’s governing body for aviation, plus registration with the US Environmental Protection Agency—and has started to make Saf-compliant sugarcane ethanol for export, Chief Executive Officer Fabio Venturelli said in an interview. The company will churn out between 13 million and 15 million liters this season (about 3.4 million to 4 million gallons), he said.

“The time has come for us to receive due recognition for our work,” Venturelli said. To be eligible under Corsia—the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation—producers must guarantee the ethanol was manufactured with low-carbon emissions and didn’t contribute to deforestation. The EPA requires producers to prove volumes can be stored and transported separately from other fuels.

The race to supply the ethanol feedstock for SAF is critical, as ethanol’s traditional key market—cars with internal combustion engines—has been threatened by the rise of electric vehicles. With about 40 percent of US corn today supplying domestic mills making ethanol for use as a transportation fuel, farmers and mills alike are anxious to compete in lucrative new markets like lowcarbon jet fuel.

It’s not a sure thing: While seen as a way to help decarbonize aviation, SAF is still facing an uncertain future as limited feedstock availability, high costs and a lack of technological diversification pose a challenge for the new industry, according to Bloombergnef. But pull it off and it has the potential to be big. Feeding the world’s green aviation fuel plants that use ethanol as feedstock would require as much as 9 billion liters per year by 2030, producer Raízen SA estimates—nearly a third of Brazil’s entire cane ethanol output.

Raízen, BP Bunge Bioenergia and mills linked to Copersucar SA have also snagged the Corsia certification. Raízen and Copersucar have registered with the EPA as well, the companies said.

“We are ready to supply ethanol in different spots in the US for sure,” said Paulo Neves, a vice president at Raízen, a joint venture between Cosan SA and Shell Plc.