From Lignocellulosic Biomass to the Skies: Can Lignin Fuel European Air Travel?

Reducing the environmental impact of the aviation sector is a pressing concern. The adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to replace current fossil-based fuel is one of the most promising pathways for decarbonizing this sector. Currently, processes for producing iso- and n-alkanes—taking 50% of the composition of the jet fuel—are approved as alternatives to fossil-based procedures. However, to generate a fully sustainable blend, the production of cyclic hydrocarbons such as naphthenes and aromatics is also required. This perspective examines the potential of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) as an alternative feedstock for producing naphthenes and aromatics through lignin hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). A mass-balancing exercise at European scale, based on harvestable woody biomass scenarios and recent product yields from state-of-the-art lignin-first biorefinery technology, demonstrates a balanced supply and demand toward a sustainable production of naphthenes and aromatics for SAF. The study reveals that developing feedstock-flexible LCB biorefining technologies—with promising perspective for the reductive catalytic fractionation case—will be critical to comply with European regulations and integrate into current industrial lignocellulosic biomass value-chains.