Biofuels

The emission reduction goals of the international aviation sector are ambitious: From 2020, global aviation is aiming to achieve CO2-neutral growth and
by 2050, net CO2 emissions shall be reduced by 50 per cent compared to the base year of 2005. Alongside technological developments and efficiency
gains, this should also involve an increase in the use of renewable fuels.
Sustainability must have first priority in the production and use of alternative fuels. It is imperative to prevent a rise in food prices, competition for water
and negative changes in land use in the course of the producing the biofuels.
Under these conditions, feedstock production for biofuels offers several clear advantages: The creation of a new agricultural sector in developing
countries can serve as a catalyst for further development in these respective regions. Sustainable agricultural practices create jobs, promote the
expansion of local infrastructure and counteract rural depopulation.
Today, there are already different national and international sustainability guidelines concerning the production of biofuels. These initiatives and
regulations must be harmonised or, at the very least, acknowledge one another, in order to achieve worldwide sustainability standards in biofuels for
aviation.

CO2 life cycle

Alternative aviation fuels are significantly more environmentally friendly than fossil jet fuel. Certainly, the same amount of CO2 is released during
combustion as with fossil fuels, but the greenhouse gases are absorbed again as part of the carbon dioxide cycle. The cycle begins with the energy
crops, which start the process by removing CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. CO2 is released again when the aeroplane engine burns
the fuel, and is then absorbed by the growing biomass whereby the cycle begins again. However, biogenic feedstocks are not completely climate
neutral, as energy is also required for fertilisation, harvesting, transportation and processing. Nevertheless, the result is clearly positive: Alternative
aviation fuels may only generate 20% of the emissions produced by fossil jet fuel.

Feedstocks
German aviation is committed to reaching a ten percent share of biofuels domestically by 2025, which will require 1.1 million tonnes of sustainable fuel
per year. The required amount of energy derived from alternative sources is set at 190 petajoules (PJ). The feedstock requirements increase accordingly
in proportion with this figure. However, it is still difficult to estimate the global biomass potential reliably as research is still underway. In 2010, the
German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) delivered one of the first major contributions. It produced a comprehensive
study, reporting on the global and regional biomass potentials in the categories of energy crops, forest biomass and residual materials.

What's clear is that we will not be able to rely on one single feedstock in the future. Much more must be done to ensure all feedstock options are
examined and every possibility considered and utilised.

Energy crops
Energy crops are renewable feedstocks that yield biomass to generate power and heat and to produce fuels. These include grain, silage maize, rape
and oil palm. There are also crops such as camelina and jatropha, which are not used for food production. The study from the German Federal Ministry
forecasts that Russia, Brazil, the United States and Indonesia will likely be key countries for biomass production.

Forestry biomass
Forests cover 3.95 billion hectares, or roughly 30 per cent of world-wide land area. According to the study by BMVBS, forest area can be expected to
decrease by up to 310 million hectares by 2020. However, the potential to obtain feedstock from forestry biomass will not be completely exhausted by
2020. Forestry biomass is a promising raw material for future biofuels taking into account the required forest management. However, the following
challenges must first be addressed:

Statistical basis: The available data on production and consumption of woody biomass is in many cases based solely on estimates or projections that
are not yet accurate enough. A reliable set of data must be created in order to be able to make long-term forecasts.
Sustainability: According to the calculation, raw timber consumption would be higher than the raw timber potential in some countries. The consequence
of this would be that more wood would be imported or more raw timber would have to be used from native forests than would be available sustainably.
The overuse of forest resources must be avoided in the medium to long term.
Availability: Russia, North America and Brazil have large feedstock potentials. In order to tap their full potential, several technological, ecological and
economic challenges must be addressed, which will require an intersectoral approach.

Residual materials
Residual materials include all biogenic by-products, residues and wastes from which energy can be extracted. The global biomass potential for residual
materials is around 30,000 PJ per year. Straw and wood residues have the greatest potential with 13,000 PJ and 10,000 PJ per year, respectively. The
worldwide population growth points to an increase in the volume of residual materials. However, due to their low energy densities and in part
unfavourable substrate properties, importing residual materials as energy sources will play only a minor role. In most cases, local utilisation or
processing makes more sense from an economic and environmental standpoint.

Algae
Algae can also be considered as a promising feedstock option for the production of biofuel. Their cells contain high amounts of chlorophyll, meaning they
are five times more efficient in converting sunlight into biomass than many other plants. The yield per hectare of up to 25 tonnes per year is significantly
greater than that of rapeseed, which produces only 1.8 tonnes. However, the production of biomass from algae is still very cost-intensive. In order to
change this, research and development must be accelerated and large-scale production facilities must be constructed. For this reason, it is not currently
possible to reliably estimate their biomass potential. Therefore it is expected that algae will initially only make a small contribution towards aireg's ten
percent goal.

Production
Only a small number of production pathways are currently available for the large-scale production of alternative aviation fuel. Therefore, the aviation
industry, fuel producers and scientists are collaborating on pioneering work to bring additional processes to market. International evaluation criteria such
as the Fuel Readiness Level (FRL) test provide the basis for a classification of technological maturity.
The production of biofuels requires not only peak performance in terms of research and development, but also an effective infrastructure. At present,
Germany does not yet have any advanced biorefineries however even today it would already be technically and ecologically feasible to built and run
biorefineries fed either on a vegetable oil or biogas. This is where politics come into play: politicians must work to support aviation by establishing the
required infrastructure as quickly as possible.

Hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA)

To produce biofuels on the basis of hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), any form of native fat or oil can be used. Apart from waste fats left
over from the food industry vegetable oils and fatty acids from oil and fat refining processes are the most common forms used.
In the first stage of production, the oils and fats are hydrogenated and in the second stage, they are refined, in a very similar process as is used with
fossil fuels. The relevant production process is already fully developed and has been certified by the international standardisation organisation ASTM
since 2011. Even today, increased amounts of HEFA jet fuel are already being used for testing purposes in scheduled passenger flights. Therefore, the
production of biojet on a HEFA basis is rated at 9 on the FRL scale.
Nevertheless, the expansion of production capacity is progressing too slowly. There are currently only four large-scale biorefineries in the world that
specialise in the production of certified fuels from vegetable oil including alternative aviation fuel.

Gas to liquid (GtL)

Biomass of very different origin and/or composition is initially converted into a biogas using biochemical processes. Using physical processes, this gas
can be used to obtain biomethane (among others). In the subsequent gas-to-liquid process, this biomethane is converted into carbon monoxide (CO)
and hydrogen (H2). Then it is converted into hydrocarbons using what is known as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis from which it is ultimately turned into jet
fuel.
Alternative aviation fuel has not yet actually been produced via the GtL process. However, GtL technology has already been applied for years in
conventional refineries and has met the international ASTM standard since 2009. Since biomethane and fossil methane are chemically identical and the
technology has been used successfully for natural gas on an industrial scale, straightforward production is considered possible. Unfortunately, there are
high costs associated with the production of alternative aviation fuels using the GtL method. This method is rated at 7 on the FRL scale.

Biomass to liquid (BtL)

For the production of biomass-to-liquid (BtL) fuels, solid biomass is converted via thermo-chemical gasification into a syngas composed primarily of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen. After purification, this gas is converted into hydrocarbon chains using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Then jet fuel can be
separated from the resulting hydrocarbon mixture by means of refinery processes.
The large-scale feasibility of BtL technology was successfully demonstrated using coal decades ago. The basic technical feasibility based on wood has
also been proven, although the technology is very demanding. This has prevented its commercialisation so far. Large-scale BtL projects are only making
slow progress, meaning it is unlikely that BtL will make any noteworthy contribution to the production of biofuels in the near term. Although bio jet has
been ASTM certified as a product of the BtL process since 2009, this method can currently only receive an FRL rating of no higher than 3.

Alcohol to jet (AtJ)

To produce alcohol-based biofuel (Alcohol to Jet, AtJ), hydrocarbon chains are produced from the alcohols with the aid of thermo-chemical reactions,
and then the jet fraction is separated in a final step. In doing so, the required alcohols can be produced in a number of ways: One approach, for
example, is to convert carbon monoxide into alcohol using micro-organisms. In another method, a sugar-containing solution is initially obtained from
biomass and then the solution is subsequently converted into alcohol in a fermentation process. It is also possible to leave out the alcohol phase entirely:
One example is the direct sugar to hydrocarbons (DSHC) method in which micro-organisms are used to process sugar molecules so that they can
subsequently be converted directly into C15 hydrocarbons via hydrogenation.
Some companies are already developing the production of biojet on an AtJ basis beyond the demonstration phase. Given the limited number of
production sites, so far there have still been no major breakthroughs made regarding the large-scale deployment of such technology. Alternative aviation
fuel from AtJ production processes is in the testing phase with regard to the certification processes; certification is expected by the middle of 2014. Due
to the early stage of development, AtJ methods are assigned an FRL rating of 2.