From feedstock to flight
Sustainable aviation fuel passes through more hands than ordinary jet fuel: someone grows or collects the raw material, someone prepares it, a plant turns it into fuel using a licensed process, a supplier blends it and moves it, an airport stores it, and an airline, or a company paying on its behalf, buys it. Around them stand the investors who pay for the plants, the governments that set the rules, and the auditors who certify every batch. Here is each step, the kinds of company at it, and the 1,812 companies on this site's record.
Feedstock 109 companies on the record
Everything starts with the raw material, and there is not enough of it. Today most of the fuel is made from used cooking oil and animal fats, collected from restaurants and rendering plants. Next come crops grown for energy, farm and forest residues, household and industrial waste, and in time carbon dioxide captured from the air or from factories, joined with hydrogen made from renewable power. These are often described as four generations: food crops; non-food crops and wastes; algae; and fuels made from carbon dioxide and power.
Feedstock producers 66
Grows or generates the raw material: oilseed and energy crops, farm and forest residues, municipal and industrial waste, captured carbon.
Darling Ingredients Inc. · Bunge Ltd. · American Soybean Association · Bayer
Feedstock collectors and processors 30
Collects, renders, crushes or pre-treats raw material into feedstock a plant can use: used cooking oil collectors, renderers, oilseed crushers.
BDI-BioEnergy International · Crimson Renewable Energy · VTTI · Oleo-X
Feedstock traders 18
Buys and sells feedstock between its producers and the fuel plants.
Mitsubishi Corporation · Mitsui & Co. · ITOCHU Corp. · Trafigura
Technology 169 companies on the record
A plant needs a proven process to turn its feedstock into fuel that meets the jet fuel standard. A few companies license these processes and supply the key equipment and catalysts; most new plants are built around one of them.
Technology providers 169
Licenses the production process or supplies the key equipment, catalysts or engineering.
Honeywell · Velocys Plc · Axens · Technip
Production 537 companies on the record
The plants and refineries that make the fuel. Some are new biorefineries built for it; others are oil refineries converted, or feeding fats and oils in alongside crude. A plant often makes renewable diesel too, and can shift its output between the two.
Fuel producers 537
Makes sustainable aviation fuel or renewable diesel in its own plants, or is building one.
Supply and delivery 178 companies on the record
Before it reaches an aircraft, the fuel is blended with ordinary jet fuel (up to half, depending on how it was made), tested and certified as standard jet fuel, then moved by pipeline, ship, barge, rail or truck to terminals and airport tank farms. Fuel suppliers sell it to airlines and airports, often under their own brand.
Fuel suppliers 147
Sells and delivers fuel to airlines and airports, often blending it with conventional jet fuel.
Avfuel Corporation · Air BP · Wagner Sustainable Fuels · Q8Aviation
Transporters and storage 35
Moves or stores feedstock or fuel by pipeline, ship, barge, rail or truck; runs terminals and tank farms.
Airports 79 companies on the record
At the airport the blended fuel goes into the same tanks, hydrant pipes and fuel trucks as any jet fuel. Into-plane fuellers put it in the aircraft; fixed base operators do the same for business and private aircraft. Airports increasingly arrange supply themselves to attract airlines.
Airports 62
Airports and airport operators where the fuel is delivered.
Groupe ADP · Heathrow and Gatwick Airports · Changi Airport Group · Greater MSP Partnership
Fixed base operators 10
Fuels and serves private and business aircraft at an airport.
ACI Jet · Naples Aviation · Monterey Jet Center · Del Monte Aviation
Into-plane fuellers 13
Puts the fuel into the aircraft for airlines and airports.
Signature Aviation · AMSL Aero · Signature Flight Support (3m supplied to NetJets) · Atlantic Aviation
Flight 330 companies on the record
The airlines buy most of the fuel, usually under long offtake agreements that help a new plant raise its money. Others pay for it too: aircraft makers for test and delivery flights, business aviation, freight companies, and corporations that buy certificates for fuel used elsewhere to cut the emissions of their travel and shipping.
Airlines 155
Carries passengers and buys the fuel to fly them.
United Airlines · British Airways PLC · Delta · American Airlines Inc.
Cargo airlines 19
Flies freight, and buys the fuel to do it.
Lufthansa Cargo AG · Air France KLM Martinair Cargo · Atlas Air · IAG Cargo
Business aviation 14
Charter, fractional and private jet operators and brokers.
Aircraft and engine makers 61
Builds aircraft or engines; buys the fuel for test and delivery flights.
Airbus · Boeing Company · Rolls-Royce Power Systems · Safran
Corporate buyers 49
A company that pays for the fuel, usually through certificates, to cut the emissions of its travel or freight.
Freight and logistics companies 37
Forwarders and shippers that buy air freight and pay for the fuel for their customers.
Travel companies 10
Travel management companies and agencies that sell the fuel to travellers.
American Express Global Business Travel · TUI Travel · Skyscanner · American Express
Finance, policy and research 717 companies on the record
The plants cost hundreds of millions each, so investors and governments matter as much as the technology: grants, loans, tax credits and blending mandates decide where plants get built. Alliances and certification schemes set the sustainability rules, auditors check every batch, and universities work on the next ways of making the fuel.
Investors 132
Invests in feedstock, plants or technology: venture, private equity, banks, funds.
Bank of America · Breakthrough Energy Ventures · UBS · Breakthrough Energy Catalyst
Governments and regulators 172
Sets policy, mandates, credits and standards, or funds and buys fuel: ministries, agencies, regulators, militaries.
NASA · Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) · Federal Aviation Administration · USDA
Alliances and associations 102
Industry groups and coalitions that promote the fuel or set its sustainability standards.
Clean Fuels Alliance America · Oneworld alliance · Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA); User: Jetblue · World Economic Forum
Universities and research bodies 108
Universities, laboratories and institutes working on new fuels and pathways.
GE Aerospace Research · Argonne National Laboratory’s Systems Assessment Center · OXCCU · University of Sheffield
Advisers, auditors and certifiers 65
Consultants, law firms, auditors and certification bodies.
Boston Consulting Group · 4AIR · Deloitte · McKinsey & Company
The stages and kinds of company follow SAFxCHANGE's own map of the value chain, drawn up in 2024. Each company is placed by its role in the deals and plants on record and by a reading of what it does; many work at more than one step and are counted at each. To correct a company's place, write to [email protected].