Developments in the area of sustainable aviation receives a lot of attention worldwide, and is a key focus for aviation authorities in Europe and China. The European Commission, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) convened on 14 and 15 November to discuss the important subject of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) as an essential pathway to support this development. Organised in the form of a workshop under the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP), this event took place in Beijing (and online) with over 120 participants in attendance.
The first day of this workshop was a dedicated discussion between the respective EU and Chinese authorities, covering the current regulatory framework and relevant policies for SAF in both regions. On the second day, the exchange was opened to a wider audience of stakeholders, who contributed on the global market and policy perspectives of SAF, on the scale-up production of biofuel technology and on the research and development of existing and future viable pathways and feedstocks for SAF production, including HEFA/SPK pathway, lignocellulose by aqueous reformed and Power to Liquid (PtL), as well as addressing specific topics of CO2 in aviation fuel and pre-screening properties of SAF by NMR. The SAF qualification process and the Clearing House initiative in the EU which aims to streamline the approval of new SAF pathways and the role of aircraft manufacturers and OEMs in promoting SAF have also been presented.
Besides the organisers, contributions were made by the Civil Aviation University of China (CAUC), the Second Research Institute of CAAC, Neste, China National Aviation Fuel Group (CNAF), Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company (ZRCC), TotalEnergies, Tsinghua University, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC), The University of Dublin, Airbus, Safran, and COMAC. Participants to the event concluded that it has been a fruitful workshop sharing insights from the various SAF stakeholder experts from Europe and China, and to be looking forward to continuing exchanges in order to promote more cooperation between the two regions in the future.
You can find the supporting resources for this activity here. A password is required. To request access please contact Wang Lili at lili.wang@eu-china-app.org.