United Airlines Expands Commitment to Sustainable Aviation Fuel Program

United Airlines and Honeywell announced a joint multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels to produce fuel that is a 100 percent drop-in replacement for petroleum jet fuel.

Alder Fuels has pioneered technologies for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that when coupled with Honeywell’s Ecofining process, could have the ability to create a carbon-negative fuel at spec with today’s jet fuel.

United revealed it would purchase 1.5 billion gallons of SAF from Alder when produced to the carrier’s requirements. The deal is the largest publicly announced SAF agreement in aviation history, measuring 1.5 times the size of the known purchase commitments of all global airlines combined.

“Since announcing our 100 percent green commitment in 2020, United has stayed focused on decarbonizing without relying on the use of traditional carbon offsets,” United CEO Scott Kirby said. “Part of that commitment means increasing SAF usage and availability since it’s the fastest way to reduce emissions across our fleet.”

“However, to scale SAF as quickly as necessary, we need to look beyond existing solutions and invest in research and development for new pathways like the one Alder is developing,” Kirby continued. “United has come further than any other airline making sustainable travel a reality by using SAF to power flights. Our leadership gives customers confidence that they are flying with an airline that recognizes the responsibility we have to help solve climate change.”

Data from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) showed that forestry and agricultural residues could provide enough biomass energy to generate more than 17 billion gallons of jet fuel and displace 75 percent of U.S. aviation’s fuel consumption.

Alder Fuels’ technology converts abundant biomass—such as forest and crop waste—into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel.

In 2020, United became the first airline to announce a commitment to invest in carbon capture and sequestration and has since followed with investments in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.