Sustainable Development Solutions
What’s on your mind
What is the best strategy to certify my production process to increase sustainability and traceability throughout the value chain and how to implement it?
Work Case 1
Certification of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) & policy advice on traceability in SAF supply chains
Approach
MCS expertise involved in 4 steps:
- Identification of SAF supply chains and actors to be certified
- Analysis of respective regulatory & policy frameworks
- Documentation of sustainability requirements
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Development of options to verify compliance & traceability
Overview
The scientific research project DEMO-SPK was implemented as part of the German Mobility and Fuels Strategy by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). The overall objective of the project was to investigate and verify the behaviour of mixtures of several renewable jet fuels with conventional JET A-1 kerosene under realistic conditions of a major airport (Leipzig / Halle, Germany).
The project, as the first of its kind in this set-up, successfully demonstrated the use of renewable jet fuel in the general fuel supply infrastructure.
Step 1: Analysis & identification of SAF supply chains & actors to be certified
In the first phase of the project, MCS together with the project consortium defined the process- and supply chains for sustainable aviation fuels to be further analysed throughout the project:
- Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids
- Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA)
- Synthesized Iso-Paraffins (SIP)
- Alcohol to Jet (AtJ)
- Power to Liquid (PtL)
Please see below a figure of an exemplary multiblend supply chain.
Step 2: Analysis of respective regulatory & policy frameworks
The verification of compliance within SAF and Multi-Blend supply chains must be set into context with existing regulatory and policy frameworks. Due to the European focus of the research project, MCS contributed with its expertise in analysing relevant legislation (EU RED and EU-ETS), their relevance for supply chain verification and potential challenges. The project also included an outlook on the international context for aviation (CORSIA, national systems).
Step 3: Documentation of sustainability requirements
Based on the definition of the relevant SAF supply chains and the analysis of the legislative framework, MCS classified and aligned the framework conditions in order to develop and ensure sustainability documentation and certification along the entire value chain. These include social and ecological sustainability criteria, requirements for calculating GHG emissions, ensuring traceability and transparency of information and rules for monitoring compliance with the criteria (governance).
Step 4: Development of options to verify compliance & traceability
In an integrative process together with the project partners, MCS designed different options for tracing sustainability information through SAF- and Mult-Blend supply chains and therefore ensuring the accountability of used SAF by the respective obligated parties.
Results of the project were published in the following formats:
- Final project report prepared for the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (Exe. Summary in English)
- Presentation of projects results at the aireg conference for Sustainable Aviation Fuels 2019 in Berlin
- Co-authored publication in Chemical Engineering & Technology (2020, 43)
