Civil aviation, petroleum ministries jointly working on green fuel blending for Indian carriers: Scindia
Civil aviation, petroleum ministries jointly working on green fuel blending for Indian carriers: Scindia
A committee is currently weighing the best framework to ensure the blending of sustainable fuels into regular jet fuel to minimise CO2 emission by airborne commercial aircraft
Manish Pant
- Apr 19, 2023,
- Updated Apr 19, 2023 6:19 PM IST
The ministries of civil aviation and petroleum & natural gas are currently working together on guidelines for promoting the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by getting Indian carriers to blend it with regular aviation turbine fuel (ATF), a top government minister has confirmed.
This would be similar to what India is doing through its ongoing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme to achieve a 20 per cent mix of ethanol in petroleum for the road transport sector by 2030. In June last year, the world’s third-largest hydrocarbon importer fulfilled a blending rate of 10 per cent ethanol in petroleum.
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“SAF’s efficacy as an aviation fuel has already been proven across the world. Within the country, we have put in place some thoughts in terms of what that mix should be and we’re looking at blending 1 per cent of SAF by 2025, 2 per cent by 2028 and 5 per cent by 2030 in regular aviation turbine fuel (ATF),” civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told Business Today in an exclusive interaction.
In terms of current consumption, taking 5 per cent of SAF as a blend in ATF would amount to about 0.7 million tonnes of required capacity. The country has the potential to produce 12 million tonnes, according to Scindia. However, the real challenges lie elsewhere.
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“The problem certainly is not in terms of the usage of SAF in aircraft engines or the country’s capability to produce it. The problem globally and for India is about ensuring that SAF actually gets produced and the logistics of bringing it from the site of production to the bowser that goes to refill the aircraft,” the minister said.
Another issue is the steep cost of green fuel. Depending on whether it is produced from recycled waste or synthetic fuel, SAF can be two to ten times costlier than standard jet fuel, according to estimates.
Therefore, Scindia and his counterpart in the ministry of petroleum & natural gas (MoPNG), Hardeep Singh Puri, have set up a committee to find a solution.
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“We are quite confident that MoPNG will draw up a road map based on what we have recommended for the production of SAF,” he stated.
Airlines see SAF as a key element in their commitment to achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The global trade body of world airlines (IATA) has estimated SAF to account for 65 per cent of the decarbonisation target, requiring a production capacity of 450 billion litres by that year.
Indian carriers IndiGo and Tata group-owned Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect have MoUs with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) in Dehradun for SAF research, development and deployment.
Carbon mapping of airport assets underway
In addition, the aviation minister is also tracking the carbon mapping of the country’s airport assets to make the aviation sector carbon-neutral. Saying that although the aviation sector only accounted for 2 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions, it was still important for India to take the lead by being responsible and adaptable.
“Aviation is naturally a very visible sector because the plane flies right above your head, as opposed to many other hard-to-abate sectors that are not visible to the naked eye,” noted Scindia.
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“As far as the airport segment is concerned, 11 airports in the private sector and close to 96 airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be completely carbon-neutral by the second quarter of 2025. That’s the plan that we have in place and I’m personally monitoring it,” he added.
Already, Delhi and Mumbai airports have received the Airport Council International (ACI)’s level 4+ accreditation, Bengaluru and Hyderabad level 3+ accreditation and Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Varanasi level 2 accreditation in the Asia Pacific and Middle East region. ACI is an international body of airport authorities.
“Thus, many of our airports have been early adopters,” informed Scindia.
He also said the ministry was aggressively working on minimising all types of CO2 emissions generated by airports.
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The ministries of civil aviation and petroleum & natural gas are currently working together on guidelines for promoting the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by getting Indian carriers to blend it with regular aviation turbine fuel (ATF), a top government minister has confirmed.
This would be similar to what India is doing through its ongoing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme to achieve a 20 per cent mix of ethanol in petroleum for the road transport sector by 2030. In June last year, the world’s third-largest hydrocarbon importer fulfilled a blending rate of 10 per cent ethanol in petroleum.
Advertisement
“SAF’s efficacy as an aviation fuel has already been proven across the world. Within the country, we have put in place some thoughts in terms of what that mix should be and we’re looking at blending 1 per cent of SAF by 2025, 2 per cent by 2028 and 5 per cent by 2030 in regular aviation turbine fuel (ATF),” civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told Business Today in an exclusive interaction.
In terms of current consumption, taking 5 per cent of SAF as a blend in ATF would amount to about 0.7 million tonnes of required capacity. The country has the potential to produce 12 million tonnes, according to Scindia. However, the real challenges lie elsewhere.
Advertisement
“The problem certainly is not in terms of the usage of SAF in aircraft engines or the country’s capability to produce it. The problem globally and for India is about ensuring that SAF actually gets produced and the logistics of bringing it from the site of production to the bowser that goes to refill the aircraft,” the minister said.
Another issue is the steep cost of green fuel. Depending on whether it is produced from recycled waste or synthetic fuel, SAF can be two to ten times costlier than standard jet fuel, according to estimates.
Therefore, Scindia and his counterpart in the ministry of petroleum & natural gas (MoPNG), Hardeep Singh Puri, have set up a committee to find a solution.
Advertisement
“We are quite confident that MoPNG will draw up a road map based on what we have recommended for the production of SAF,” he stated.
Airlines see SAF as a key element in their commitment to achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The global trade body of world airlines (IATA) has estimated SAF to account for 65 per cent of the decarbonisation target, requiring a production capacity of 450 billion litres by that year.
Indian carriers IndiGo and Tata group-owned Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect have MoUs with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) in Dehradun for SAF research, development and deployment.
Carbon mapping of airport assets underway
In addition, the aviation minister is also tracking the carbon mapping of the country’s airport assets to make the aviation sector carbon-neutral. Saying that although the aviation sector only accounted for 2 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions, it was still important for India to take the lead by being responsible and adaptable.
“Aviation is naturally a very visible sector because the plane flies right above your head, as opposed to many other hard-to-abate sectors that are not visible to the naked eye,” noted Scindia.
Advertisement
“As far as the airport segment is concerned, 11 airports in the private sector and close to 96 airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be completely carbon-neutral by the second quarter of 2025. That’s the plan that we have in place and I’m personally monitoring it,” he added.
Already, Delhi and Mumbai airports have received the Airport Council International (ACI)’s level 4+ accreditation, Bengaluru and Hyderabad level 3+ accreditation and Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Varanasi level 2 accreditation in the Asia Pacific and Middle East region. ACI is an international body of airport authorities.
“Thus, many of our airports have been early adopters,” informed Scindia.
He also said the ministry was aggressively working on minimising all types of CO2 emissions generated by airports.
Also Watch: New York is World’s Richest City and home to over 3 lakh millionaires, 58 billionaires
Also Read: Dunzo fires 30% staff in fresh round of layoffs - BusinessToday
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