Page 37 - The STAT Trade Times September 2022 Issue

Can you give us a general
overview of the SAF industry
today and how it has evolved
over the years?
There has been a lot of growing interest
in the SAF industry or SAF in general be-
cause the talk around the aviation indus-
try currently says that sustainable aviation
fuel is the best option to reduce carbon
emissions quickly. Alternative technolo-
gies may develop in around 20 or 30 years
from now. With SAF, however, industry Photo: Synhelion
players already know that it is guaranteed
to work. Another big plus is that it's not
a fossil fuel-based energy source. In the Close-up of Synhelion’s proprietary solar receiver, which provides the necessary process heat to
current scenario, it’s important that SAF produce solar fuels
plants are scaled up quickly, and produc- into the limelight then that something
tion is ramped up to sustain the demand. needed to be done to counter climate
change. This spurred a whole chain move-
By when do you think, you ment around how you need to stop flying
know, interest really picked up as it’s very polluting. This has really picked
when it came to SAF? When did up, and all the airlines are now presenting
it really start getting into the their sustainability strategies and saying that
limelight? they want to buy SAF to decarbonise. With
Yes, I would say even less than in the last solar fuels or with synthetic fuels, you really
ten years. Synhelion was founded in 2016, have a big lever, and everybody's seeing
and back then, some people questioned that now. So ever since the climate strikes
whether there would ever be a market for that started around 2018, and over the last
synthetic fuels at all. The interest peaked four years, that interest really picked up.
with the climate strikes starting back then in Everyone is asking for SAF now. However,
Europe with Greta Thunberg. It really came scale-up is not that quick.

Carmen Murer
Synhelion

www.stattimes.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 35