Abstract
The aviation industry has set ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions in coming decades. The strategy involves the use of sustainable biofuels, aiming to achieve benefits from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. In this context, Brazilian conditions are favorable, with a mature agroindustry that regularly produces automotive biofuel largely adopted by Brazilian road vehicles, while air transportation has been growing at an accelerating pace and a modern aircraft industry is in place. This paper presents the main conclusions and recommendations from a broad assessment of the technological, economic, and sustainability challenges and opportunities associated with the development of drop-in aviation biofuels in Brazil. It was written by a research team that prepared the initial reports and conducted eight workshops with the active participation of more than 30 stakeholders encompassing the private sector, government institutions, NGOs, and academia. The main outcome was a set of guidelines for establishing a new biofuels industry, including recommendations for (a) filling the identified research and development knowledge gaps in the production of sustainable feedstock; (b) overcoming the barriers in conversion technology, including scaling-up issues; (c) promoting greater involvement and interaction between private and government stakeholders; and (d) creating a national strategy to promote the development of aviation biofuels.
Highlights
Aviation is essential in modern society, transporting people and goods rapidly and safely around the world, with energy consumption essentially based on oil products
The main objectives of the Sustainable Aviation Biofuels initiative for Brazil were (a) to develop a roadmap to identify the gaps and barriers related to the production, distribution, and use of biofuels for aviation, Figure 3: Roadmap components for biofuels in the aviation industry
Brazil has an interesting combination of a significant area of land already cleared for agriculture, a dynamic agricultural sector displaying strong productivity growth, a large amount of legally protected native vegetation, and human health and safety regulations for rural activities equivalent to urban activities
Summary
Aviation is essential in modern society, transporting people and goods rapidly and safely around the world, with energy consumption essentially based on oil products. Fuel currently represents 33% of the airlines’ operational costs (compared with 10–15% in the past decade) [4], and in Brazil this burden is even higher, representing approximately 40% of the operational cost for the airlines [5]. Besides this high share of total costs, International Journal of Aerospace Engineering the volatility of the oil prices is another concern, introducing significant hurdles for planning and management in these companies
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