Experts discussed several aspects of this market at a side event at CEM15/MI-9, in Foz do Iguaçu, this Tuesday (1º)
Brazil has the potential to become the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), experts argued at a side event during the 15th Clean Energy Ministerial and 9th Mission Innovation, which are taking place in parallel with the G20 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Foz do Iguaçu (PR) this week.
“The trend is for progress to be very rapid, and we will soon be able to have this sustainable fuel in large-scale production,” said Itaipu CEO Enio Verri, who led the opening of the panel “Aviation: A new frontier for low-carbon fuels in Brazil and South America,” organized by Itaipu’s Renewable Energy Superintendence in partnership with the World Economic Forum, on Tuesday (1st).
For Erasmo Battistella, president of the Brazilian Biodiesel Producers Association (Aprobio), “Brazil could become the Saudi Arabia of SAF. And what we have already done in terms of biofuels, with ethanol since the 1970s and biodiesel since the early 2000s, qualifies us for this.”
In this sense, the Fuel of the Future program, whose law is expected to be enacted by the Federal Government next Thursday (3), should be a new milestone in the decarbonization of the economy. The new law establishes that, starting in 2027, air operators will be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on domestic flights through the use of SAF. The targets start with a 1% reduction and gradually increase until reaching 10% in 2037.
Itaipu Binacional, through Itaipu Parquetec, has been supporting research into these new technologies, especially biogas and green hydrogen. The company is home to the first plant for the production of SAF in the country. Inaugurated last June, in the area of the power plant, the plant is the result of a partnership between Itaipu and the International Center for Renewable Energies (CIBiogás), the Brazil-Germany Cooperation for Sustainable Development, the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and the Araucária Foundation.
With an investment of 1.8 million euros from the German government, through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the plant installed at Itaipu is designed to produce 6 kg per day of bio-syncrude, a mixture of hydrocarbons created from biogas and green hydrogen, intended for the production of SAF. “We have a very big challenge, which is to evolve quickly to reach the production and price necessary to be market viable”, added Verri.
For the Director of Oil, Gas and Biofuel Studies at the Energy Research Company (EPE), Heloísa Borges Esteves, SAF is the new frontier for biofuels. “And to reach this frontier, we need to balance technology (gradually increasing it in a sustainable way), develop markets (supply and demand) and embrace public policies involving several governments at an international level. And this is not easy,” assessed Heloísa, highlighting that Brazil will take an important step with the new legislation.
The manager of Strategy and International Themes at Airbus, Tarcísio Soares, highlighted the efforts of the aeronautical industry, which today transports people with approximately a quarter of the amount of fuel that was used in the 1970s. “Today, airplanes have the capacity to fly using up to 50% SAF. The expectation is that we will be able to reach 100% between 2030 and 2035,” he assured. The side event also featured the participation of the leader of Aviation Decarbonization at the World Economic Forum, Giorgio Parolini, and the deputy Director of Environment, of the Air Transport Bureau of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Jane Hupe.
