White Desert, a luxury tourism company, will soon launch flights from Cape Town to Antarctica using jet fuel supplied by the energy and chemical company Sasol. This fuel is partially derived from leftover cooking oils, and these flights will begin in November 2023.
Flight Details and Costs
Passengers for these trips, designed to experience travel to one of the most remote places on Earth, will need to pay between $16,500 and $120,000, depending on the chosen tour package. Antarctica, due to its higher population of penguins compared to humans, hosts only 1,000 people in winter and 5,000 in summer, primarily consisting of scientists, researchers, and support staff.
Read more: Development of LNG Ships Complying with New IGC Code Requirements
Development of Sustainable Fuel in the Aviation Industry
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is not new in the aviation industry, but it will be a first for Sasol. The company has recently received international sustainability certification for the fuel produced at the Natref refinery. The Natref refinery, located in Sasolburg, has a daily processing capacity of about 108,500 barrels and is the only domestic crude oil refinery in South Africa. The fuel produced at this refinery is derived from renewable materials such as cooking oils and vegetable oils and can be blended with conventional jet fuel for use in existing aircraft.
Over 360,000 commercial flights at 46 airports in the United States and Europe have used SAF. Companies like World Energy and Neste provide these lower-emission fuels to airlines such as United, KLM, and Delta. Commercial flights are allowed to use a blend of up to 50% SAF with traditional jet fuel.
Challenges and the Future of Sustainable Fuel
Although SAF is chemically similar to standard jet fuel and is easily usable in airport fueling infrastructures, it constitutes only a small fraction of the jet fuel used globally. The main reason for this is the high production cost, which arises from producing fuel from renewable waste, fats, and oils. While refueling with SAF is clearly cleaner than using traditional jet fuel, these aircraft will still emit greenhouse gases.
The aviation industry is planning to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The European Union has made further progress in this area and has imposed stringent blending requirements, starting at a minimum of 2% in 2025 and reaching 70% by 2050.
Read more: ABP Investment in New Pining Stations for Container Loading Safety
