SENASA, with recognized national and international prestige in the aeronautical sector, is strongly committed to the aviation environment, and its commitment is based on the conviction that environmental benefits are also a stimulus for innovation, productivity and competitiveness of the air sector. Therefore, SENASA has participated as coordinator in the project ITAKA (Initiative Towards sustAinable Kerosene for Aviation), a project launched in 2012 with funding from the European Commission in which SENASA has acted as project coordinator, constituted by sixteen leading companies and organizations in the aeronautical and fuel sectors, and whose purpose is to contribute to the annual goal of producing 2 million tons of aviation biofuels in 2020, set in the European initiative "Flightpath".
Below are the main results obtained in the project, as a result of the work carried out by SENASA and its partners to monitor and promote policies and actions helping SENASA and the sector to achieve its increasingly higher environmental targets.
ITAKA aimed to link supply and demand by establishing business relationships under specific conditions among feedstock grower/supplier, biofuel producer, distributor and final users (airports & airlines), encompassing the entire supply chain. The generated knowledge aimed to identify and address barriers to innovation and commercial deployment.
Executive summary
RESULTS
All the experiences and research carried out have contributed to optimize the value chain performance in Europe thanks to the cooperation of ITAKA partners, and with contributions from key collaborators like KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air BP, Avinor, Lufthansa and SAS. The main results are summarized below:
| VALUE CHAIN STEP |
DESCRIPTION OF KEY RESULT |
| CAMELINA OIL PRODUCTION |
- 4 camelina large plantations deployed in Spain + 2 in Romania (~15,000 ha in total)
- Selected and new camelina varieties adapted for Europe and with increased oil content, combined with new and optimized camelina growing protocols
- New techniques for pre-processing UCO (Used cooking Oil) using pyrolysis
- Study of potential sustainable camelina oil production in the EU based on the experimental data from the project, concluding than annual camelina oil production in Europe could reach 1 million tons
|
| REFINING |
- Improved refining facilities (new circulation line)
- Adapted protocol for in house quality testing
- Demonstration of production, quality testing and blending procedures
|
| LOGISTICS |
- Better knowledge of the fuel logistics infrastructure: different systems, owners and operators and solutions for biojet, including new procedures for agreements and traceability.
- 1st worldwide use of biojet on an airport hydrant system (Oslo), (Oslo airport) demonstrating normal use.
- Blending accountability: to be tracked based on chain of custody documentation on mass-balance basis, for carbon trading and other mechanisms.
|
| AVIATION USE |
- 18 flights AMS-AUA-BON [A330-200]: no detrimental effects on operation, similar or slightly better fuel consumption, no variation in gauging systems. Positive effect: reduction of in-take water generation compared to fossil fuel, reducing the need of maintenance.
- 2 APU tests for pollutant emissions: reduction in fuel flow, reduction in the SAE smoke number and possible reduction in PMs. No changes NOx or UHC. Two fuel batches from two different fuel providers / refining HEFA technologies.
- 80 flights OSL-AMS [E190]: no detrimental effects on operation, similar or slightly better fuel consumption, no variation in gauging systems.
|
| SUSTAINABILITY |
- GHG savings estimated to achieve 66% as a standard value with the camelina oil pathway, and with potential to go over 70%. EU RED RSB and RSB certifications obtained for the CCE camelina oil plantations. EU RED certification obtained for the jet fuel batches. Several sustainability checks: RFS2 and SkyNRG sustainability board passed.
- Sustainability certification burden can increase the cost of the biojet up to 10%.
- An effective methodology for the measurement of metals in the cameline value chain when produced in contaminated land has been developed.
- Low ILUC risk assessment: as camelina is produced in fallow land under rotation, considering the aridity index, it do not demand additional land or substitution of crops, but increase the productivity of the same agricultural land.
- Social impacts. Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) has been applied in Spain and Romania to evaluate the impacts of the development of the camelina crop, with positive effects particularly significant in Romania.
- Environmental impacts. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) has been applied scanning other indicators than climate change and considering ecosystem services not measured in the conventional standards for LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) obtaining impacts similar to other biofuels.
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More information available in the public deliverables. The most relevant ones are included here. If you want more information please do not hesitate to contact SENASA
ENLACES EXTERNOS
ITAKA en CORDIS https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/106229_en.html
