Analysis Of Ready And Sustainable Aviation Fuels And Their Production Cost Estimation
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The actually most studied and promising pathways for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) to reach in 2050 no net emissions of greenhouse gases in the aviation sector can be divided in three categories: thermochemical processes, biochemical routes, electrofuel production. The produced SAF are at different readiness level and have different availabilities. Their large-scale utilization is mainly related to evolution of costs. In fact, there is still a significant price gap between sustainable and conventional jet fuels because of the high production costs of SAF. The two most significant items are the feedstock costs and capital costs. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment provides a structured framework for evaluating the maturity of each SAF production pathway and helps contextualize their economic performance and deployment potential. High-TRL technologies, such as HEFA and co-processing (TRL 8–9), benefit from established industrial infrastructure, proven process reliability, and reduced technical risk, which collectively contribute to their comparatively lower production costs and faster scalability. Conversely, mid-TRL pathways like Fischer–Tropsch (FT), Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ), and Waste-to-Jet (TRL 7–8) still face challenges related to process optimization, capital intensity, and feedstock logistics, which elevate cost uncertainty and limit widespread adoption in the near term. The economic viability of different SAF production routes remains one of the main constraints to large-scale adoption. The higher cost of SAF compared to conventional jet fuel is increasing ticket prices and affecting the affordability of air travel. The introduction of possible regulations might condition the different proportion of the costs. In this work, the SAF with the higher readiness and availability are considered and their costs are analized, also in relation to the actual regulations and the effect on flight ticket prices.
