Honeywell announces new low-cost tech for SAF production

Honeywell announced that it is launching new hydrocracking technology to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from biomass with much higher yields and low cost.

“As demand for SAF continues to grow, the aviation industry is challenged by limited supplies of traditional SAF feedstocks such as vegetable oils, animal fats and waste oils,” said Ken West, president and CEO, Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions.

“When combined with the existing Fischer-Tropsch process, our new technology will expand the feedstock options available in the industry to sources that are more plentiful, ultimately helping improve our customers’ ability to produce SAF.”

The company said that its new technology produces 3-5% more SAF while reducing costs by up to 20%. It claims that the new technology also lowers by-product waste streams as compared to other commonly used hydroprocessing technologies.

Producers can use Honeywell’s Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Unicracking technology to process liquids and waxes from biomass – including leftovers from crops, wood waste or food scraps –to produce SAF that complies with the standards.

Recently, DG Fuels selected Honeywell’s FT Unicracking technology for its biofuels manufacturing facility in Louisiana – the largest in the world for making SAF from the FT process – that will produce 13,000 barrels of SAF each day when it begins operations in 2028.

The company has been a pioneer in providing SAF technology as more than 50 sites globally have licensed Honeywell’s SAF technologies, with refineries projected to exceed a combined capacity of more than 500,000 barrels of SAF per day when fully operational.