Colonial Pipeline to start shipping sustainable aviation fuel

The Colonial Pipeline fuel network will soon begin shipping sustainable aviation fuel for the first time, as more airlines aim to meet their greenhouse gas emissions goals.

Colonial, which is the main artery of the US' fuel supply from the South to the east Coast, said April 18 that it has added the ability to transport SAF and will accept customer nominations to ship the fuel on its system. With this change, shippers can nominate jet fuel that includes SAF from any Colonial origin point to any Colonial destination, including airports, along Colonial's 5,500-mile system.

"Colonial Pipeline is excited to provide this new service to meet our customers' evolving need for renewable fuels," said Aaron Smith, Colonial business development manager, in a statement. "We are ideally situated to safely and efficiently supply fuel with direct connections to seven East Coast international airports, along with transport connections to other large and mid-market airports."

Colonial delivers directly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Piedmont Triad International Airport, Raleigh Durham International Airport, Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Washington Dulles International Airport. But Colonial also moves products that are delivered to airports in greater New York City area, as well as other destinations along the way in Birmingham, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Augusta, Georgia; Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; and Philadelphia.

The Colonial system delivers of 100 million gal/d of fuel and heating oil from the Houston refining hub to New York Harbor, supplying about 45% of all the gasoline and diesel fuel consumed on the East Coast.

Colonial's move to ship SAF was a long time coming. Colonial said it proposed changes to existing product specifications and aligned those changes with the American Society for Testing and Materials Standards for aviation kerosene. The proposed new specifications were circulated to current Colonial customers and fuel producers for their feedback, which then helped produce the final specifications that are now in effect.

SAF is a non-petroleum-based fuel made from renewable and waste resources that is nearly identical in chemical makeup to conventional aviation fuel. SAF is considered a drop-in fuel that can be blended up to 50% with conventional aviation fuel in accordance with ASTM standards.

More airlines have begun to invest in SAF. For instance, United Airlines recently took a stake in Cemvita Factory, which uses microbes to turn carbon dioxide into a feedstock for alternative fuels, including SAF. Occidental Petroleum, a founding investor in Cemvita, is collaborating.

Likewise, in January, LanzaJet building the first alcohol-to-jet SAF production plant to be based in Soperton, Georgia, was using ethanol waste as feedstock for the plant, named Freedom Pines. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2022, with production beginning in 2023.