Assessing a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Chain from Winter Canola and Its Carbon Intensity Considering Feedstock Yield Variations

Bolakhe, K.; Yu, T. Edward; Sykes, V.R.; Smith, S.A.; Boyner, C.N.

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2026.125291

i

Assessing a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Chain from Winter Canola and Its Carbon Intensity Considering Feedstock Yield Variations

2026-01-01
By Bolakhe, K. ; Yu, T. Edward ; Sykes, V.R. ; ...

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Creators:

Bolakhe, K. ; Yu, T. Edward ; Sykes, V.R. ; Smith, S.A. ; Boyner, C.N.
Corporate Creators:

United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment ; University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Corporate Contributors:

United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Environment and Energy
Subject/TRT Terms:

ASCENT Aviation Fuels Biomass Fuels Carbon Stochastic Optimization Stochastic Processes Sustainable Transportation Winter Canola Yield Uncertainty
Publication/ Report Number:

j.renene.2026.125291
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2026.125291
Resource Type:

Journal Article
Right Statement:

Open Access; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Geographical Coverage:

United States
Corporate Publisher:

Elsevier
Abstract:

Replacing conventional aviation fuel (CAF) with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been suggested as a vital means to decarbonize the aviation industry. We considered winter canola a feedstock for SAF production through the hydro-processed esters and fatty acids pathway in the Southeast United States. We incorporated feedstock yield variations in a stochastic mixed-integer linear programming model to optimize the SAF supply chain. Results suggest the potential SAF production for Nashville International Airport (BNA), from an existing oil extraction mill and 0.19 million hectares (ha) of winter canola cultivation, range from 129 million liters yearly (MLY) to 246 MLY with a 90 % likelihood. With additional investment and expanded winter canola cultivation to 0.61 million ha, the expected SAF supply to BNA could increase to 348 MLY. An additional 212 MLY can be supplied to Memphis International Airport. After considering the co-product revenues, the expected breakeven cost for SAF is $1.1 per liter. The SAF's carbon intensity falls into the range from 31 g of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule of fuel (g CO2e MJ?? 1) to 43 g CO2e MJ?? 1, with 90 % probability, which is at least 50 % lower than CAF.
Content Notes:

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Please cite this article as: K. Bolakhe, T.E. Yu, V.R. Sykes, S.A. Smith, C.N. Boyer, Assessing a sustainable aviation fuel supply chain from winter canola and its carbon intensity considering feedstock yield variations, Renewable Energy, Volume 261, 2026, 125291, ISSN 0960-1481, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2026.125291.
Format:

PDF
Funding:

13-C-AJFE-UTENN-016
Collection(s):

Federal Aviation Administration
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:f8f4f8972be5477a8dd319574a3a9436684ccf65e524dbee95887d872c2e210eaa157e8f0869b56b4afa993053108a7b3efc20a6634a286c5ca91f8dc6ad0b7a
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