This week, the Paris Air Show began with announcements from two sustainable aviation ventures expanding their efforts in Washington state.
The hydrogen-powered aviation startup ZeroAvia has announced that it will expand its R&D capabilities at its Paine Field facility in Everett. ZeroAvia will receive a $350,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce to support the project, doubling the state’s previous investment. The company celebrated its partnership with Alaska Airlines to add its propulsion system to a retired plane last month.
Economical flight fuel startup Twelve shared news that it’s structure a business scale creation office in Moses Lake in Eastern Washington. Twelve uses carbon dioxide and water to make a synthetic jet fuel, drawing comparisons to photosynthesis. When compared to conventional fossil fuels, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 90% and powers its process with renewable energy.
The air show in Le Bourget, France, lasts for a whole week, and a Washington delegation of nearly two dozen businesses and organizations is there to talk about the state’s role in sustainable aviation and get new businesses interested in flying into the Pacific Northwest.
Technology is in high demand everywhere. A global coalition of commercial airlines made a pledge two years ago to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Shipping companies and other businesses also want to cut emissions.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, addressed a Boeing-led conference near Seattle this spring and stated, “We recognize that this is going to be extremely challenging, but it is achievable and we are absolutely determined to do everything we can to achieve that goal.” The conference was held near Seattle.
The petroleum fuels that power the majority of airplanes make it impossible to go green in aviation because there are no alternatives that come close to matching their affordability, availability, weight, or sheer amount of energy. Strategies for reducing carbon include:
Fuel for sustainable aviation (SAF): Feedstock materials include crops, sewage and dairy waste, waste vegetable oils, and agricultural and forestry debris.
Hydrogen: This fuel can be made from water and methane, among other things, and burnt directly or in fuel cells.
Batteries: Due to the batteries’ “energy density,” or weight in relation to the power generated, this option is currently restricted to smaller aircraft flying shorter distances.
Operations and materials modifications: NASA awarded Boeing a $425 million, seven-year grant to develop and test ultra-thin-winged fuel-efficient aircraft. Flight plans are being modified to reduce fuel consumption by airlines, cargo companies, and others.
Contrail studies: The ice cloud clouds produced by engine exhaust are unpredictable contrails. The Contrail Impact Task Force was established last year to investigate contrail impacts and opportunities for reduction.
It’s a lot to think about. The Cascade Climate Impact Model, a free tool released by Boeing last month, is intended to assist businesses in evaluating the cost-benefit trade-offs of various approaches to lowering carbon emissions, possibly with the intention of including Boeing aircraft in the solutions.
SAF is being favored by many established aerospace interests, particularly in the near future. It is possible to use the fuel in aircraft that already exist by mixing it with jet fuel. SAF is referred to by Boeing officials as “the biggest lever” for reducing aviation carbon. However, the fuel is in short supply, accounting for well less than 1% of the total jet fuel that is currently available.
Senior emerging technology analyst Jonathan Geurkink of PitchBook seems to agree that SAF is the best option, at least for the time being. Today, “it’s a plug-and-play kind of solution for a lot of different reasons,” Guerkink stated. We don’t want to dump all of these planes at once.
Twelve signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft and Alaska Air last year to support the startup’s technology development in addition to the announced expansion in Moses Lake. Gold country intends to test Twelve’s fuel in one of its airplane, while Microsoft desires to pay for its utilization to balance worker travel.
Locally, the sector is receiving additional support. This spring, Washington legislators endorsed subsidizing to make an economical flying fuel Research and development focus at Paine Field, and they passed a bill making an expense motivation for privately delivered SAF. In May, the Dutch company SkyNRG said it would build a biogas plant in Washington to make environmentally friendly aviation fuel.
John Dees, a senior decarbonization scientist at Carbon Direct, stated, “If incentives are aligned appropriately, there is feedstock, there is technology, and all the things that are in place to produce sustainable aviation fuel.” It concerns costs. It continues to cost more.
