Phillips 66: Reducing aviation’s carbon footprint will require entire industry cooperation
Despite Phillips 66 planning to open the largest ever sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility, the effort to reduce air travel’s carbon footprint will require the entire industry to aid in development, deployment and widespread use of renewable fuel, Lindsey Grant, manager, Aviation, told Corporate Jet Investor.
Grant’s comments were made in the wake of the recent announcement that Phillips 66 is planning to convert its San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, California, from crude oil processing to renewable fuels, using feedstocks such as used cooking oil, fats, greases and vegetable oils.
If approved by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Contra Costa County officials, the refinery could produce as much as 680 million gallons of renewable diesel, renewable gasoline, and SAF per year. Add to that, the production of renewable fuels from an existing project, the output could surpass 800 million gallons per year, making it the largest SAF production facility in the world when completed by 2024, according to Phillips.
“Phillips 66 is proud to propose converting an existing refinery in Rodeo, California into the world’s largest renewable fuels plant. We’re excited to play our role to produce sustainable jet fuel, but the effort to reduce air travel’s carbon footprint will require the entire industry to aid in development, deployment and widespread use of renewable fuel,” said Grant. “We’re committed to work alongside other industry leaders to achieve this. This conversion is expected to reduce the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.”
“Phillips 66 Aviation is a major contract jet and avgas fuel supplier to private, commercial, and military aviation. As for the renewable fuel that is expected to be produced at Rodeo Refinery, 20% of that will be jet fuel,” added Grant.
Meanwhile elsewhere in California, ACI Jet has become the latest FBO operator to provide SAF to its customers, after receiving 7,300-gallons of fuel this week at its John Wayne-Orange County Airport-based facility. The SAF has been supplied by Avfuel, which sources its SAF from biofuels company, Gevo, and blends it with standard jet-A in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. ACI expects to receive another 7,300-gallon load imminently which will amount to a four metric tonne carbon reduction across the two deliveries.