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Unlocking 100% SAF

The aviation industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize. While passenger numbers continue to rise, new propulsion technologies such as electrification and hydrogen remain years from commercial deployment. Scalable, sustainable liquid fuels are therefore essential to achieving climate goals.

Alder SAF100 demonstrates that a fully biogenic jet fuel can be produced by combining ARC hydrocarbons (majority) with HEFA-SAF (minority). The result is a 100% sustainable fuel that replicates the performance of fossil jet fuel while delivering significant carbon intensity reductions.

Alder partnered with Washington State University (WSU), Honeywell UOP, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and World Energy. Hydroprocessing and distillation were completed with technical support from Honeywell UOP, fuel property prescreening at WSU, and independent finished fuel testing at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).

Technical Insights

Early testing and analysis reveal promising results:

• Higher Fuel Density & Energy Content – Hydrotreated ARC hydrocarbons provide cycloparaffins and trace aromatics, boosting volumetric energy density compared to HEFA-SAF alone. This enables more efficient flight performance with fewer gallons consumed per mile.

• Low-Temperature Performance – Blending ARC-derived molecules into HEFA-SAF lowers freezing point and viscosity, ensuring reliable flow at high altitudes.

• Cleaner Combustion – ARC’s cycloparaffins help reduce soot formation while maintaining essential O-ring seal performance—solving one of the key barriers to 100% SAF adoption.

Together, these properties position Alder SAF100 as a strong candidate for replacing petroleum-derived jet fuel without compromising on safety or performance.

Industry Perspectives

“We are delighted to support Alder’s efforts to commercialize Alder SAF100. This iterative prescreening approach de-risks scale-up and highlights opportunities to accelerate development milestones,” said Josh Heyne, Director of the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Lab at WSU.

“Unlocking 100% SAF is essential for the aviation sector to meet its decarbonization targets,” said Zia Abdullah, Laboratory Program Manager for Bioenergy at NREL. “Alder’s ARC platform shows clear potential to provide the right molecular mix at scale.”

Looking Ahead

Alder SAF100 demonstrates how our ARC platform can serve as a scalable foundation for next-generation SAF. While more work remains to scale production and integrate with refiners, this milestone illustrates the technical feasibility and performance potential of 100% biogenic jet fuel.

Biomass Matters: Why Feedstock Choice Defines Sustainability

At Alder Renewables, our technology is built on a simple foundation: biomass. The sustainability and carbon intensity (CI) of our fuels depend on the quality of the feedstocks we use. While residues like sawdust or crop waste already deliver major greenhouse gas savings, purpose-grown energy crops offer the potential to go even further—improving soil health, storing atmospheric carbon below ground, and unlocking the possibility of carbon-negative fuels.

Miscanthus: A Perennial Crop for Carbon Storage

Miscanthus is a perennial grass that stores roughly half of its captured carbon below ground in extensive root systems, while requiring little irrigation, tilling, or fertilizer once established. Every ton harvested is matched by nearly a ton stored underground. This regenerative cycle enriches soils, reduces nutrient runoff, and builds long-term carbon reserves, aligning agriculture with decarbonization.

Field-to-Fuel Demonstration

Through a U.S. DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office award, Alder and its partners demonstrated a full miscanthus-to-fuel pathway:

• Cultivation – Miscanthus grown by AGgrow Tech and tested by UIUC for carbon intensity. Results showed the potential for strongly negative biomass CI values.

• Conversion to ARC – Biomass preprocessed at INL, fast pyrolyzed by BTG Bioliquids, and upgraded into ARC at NREL and Alder's facilities.

• Refining & Testing – ARC refined into jet-range hydrocarbons with Honeywell UOP; fuel testing by WSU confirmed compatibility with 100% SAF requirements.

Key Results

• Negative Carbon Intensity – Miscanthus-derived ARC-SAF achieved a lifecycle CI below -9 gCO_2eq/MJ, within ICAO benchmarks for carbon-negative fuels.

• Superior Fuel Properties – Blending 70% miscanthus ARC-SAF with 30% HEFA-SAF produced Alder SAF100 with higher density, greater energy efficiency, and lower freezing point than HEFA alone.

• Drop-In Compatibility – With aromatics present, the miscanthus Alder SAF100 ensures compatibility with today's aircraft systems while reducing soot formation.

Looking Ahead

Miscanthus-derived Alder SAF100 shows how purpose-grown energy crops can help aviation achieve not just low-carbon, but potentially carbon-negative fuel pathways. By integrating regenerative agriculture with advanced biocrude upgrading, we can decarbonize aviation while improving soils and reshaping land use for the better.