Case study on SAF emissions from air travel considering emissions modeling impact

Abstract

The environmental impact of air travel, largely driven by fossil-fuel consumption, remains a critical subject of debate. Addressing this challenge requires immediately adopting sustainable practices to mitigate its environmental footprint. While hydrogen and hybrid-electric propulsion technologies show promise for the future, current efforts focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) as a viable near-term solution to reduce aviation emissions while ensuring compatibility with existing aviation infrastructure. This paper examines the environmental impact of air travel, focusing on the emissions associated with conventional fuel and SAF. Using two methodologies, namely the subsonic fuel flow method (SF2) and an improved version of it, the emissions corrected subsonic fuel flow method (EC-SF2), non-CO₂ emissions trends are analyzed along a flight trajectory from Stockholm to Bordeaux. The comparison between the two methods underscores the importance of accurate emission modeling, particularly for SAF correction on emission index. The SF2 method reveals that SAF fuels with higher calorific value than conventional fuel increased total HC and CO emissions while decreasing NO_x emissions. Conversely, the EC-SF2 method resulted in a more homogeneous emissions reduction trend. Our proposed methodology, which corrects both fuel flow and emission index based on SAF-specific data, could, therefore, offer a more reliable estimation of emissions behavior for SAF. These findings highlight the sensitivity of emissions modeling on environmental assessment.