Comparison of life cycle emissions of alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuels from selected energy plants

The aviation industry has been developing dynamically in recent years; however, it also faces the challenge of reducing CO 2 emissions and striving to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.One solution is the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which are biofuels that significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.This work aims to determine the carbon footprint in the life cycle of SAF produced by the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) conversion method in two variants: well-to-wake and well-to-tank for selected energy plants -energy willow (Salix viminalis), giant miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus), and hybrid poplar (Populus sp.).In the case of well-to-tank emissions, the overall emissions equaled 1049.82kgCO 2 eq/Mg, 987.78 kgCO 2 eq/Mg, and 990.25 kgCO 2 eq/Mg for energy willow, giant miscanthus, and hybrid poplar, respectively.The well-to-wake emissions are more than twice as high as wake-to-tank emissions.However, comparing well-to-wake emissions with conventional aviation fuels, Jet A-1 shows a decrease of 46.4%, 45.7%, and 44.1% for hybrid poplar, giant miscanthus, and energy willow, respectively.The results indicate that ATJ-SAF produced from domestic energy crops can substantially surpass regulatory emission reduction targets, underscoring their strong potential to contribute to aviation decarbonization.