内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/new-fuel-same-planes-inside-the-bid-to-clean-up-air-travel-with-cooking-oil-and-captured-carbon/

内容总结：

航空业脱碳难题待解，可持续航空燃料成破局关键

随着全球航空出行需求持续增长，航空业碳排放问题日益受到关注。明星乘坐私人飞机引来的舆论风波，折射出一个更大的行业困境：航空燃油能量密度极高，电池等清洁能源难以替代，氢燃料又面临储存、传输和飞机改造等多重障碍。在此背景下，可持续航空燃料（SAF）成为当前航空业最主要的减排路径。

据统计，飞行约占全球二氧化碳排放量的2.5%，且随着其他行业加快清洁能源转型，这一比例预计还将上升。与传统石油基航空煤油不同，SAF利用地表已有的碳资源，原料包括废弃食用油、动物脂肪、油料作物、农林废弃物乃至捕获的二氧化碳，燃烧时释放的碳本就是自然界循环中的碳，因此可显著降低净排放。

在美国西部，已有多家企业投身SAF生产。位于华盛顿州中部摩西湖的初创公司Twelve，去年启用其AirPlant One工厂，今年夏天开始以捕获的二氧化碳为原料商业化生产SAF。该工厂利用乙醇生产过程中捕集的二氧化碳，经过去氧、加氢等工艺制成碳氢燃料，设计年产能达5万加仑，品牌名为E-Jet。公司首席执行官兼联合创始人尼古拉斯·弗兰德斯表示，即便满产，市场需求仍远超供应，规模更大的第二座工厂已在筹备中，年产能预计可达数千万加仑。

另一家企业蒙大拿可再生能源公司则走了一条不同路线。该公司将蒙大拿州大瀑布城一座百年炼油厂部分改造为可再生燃料生产基地，利用废弃食用油、牛脂和亚麻荠等原料生产SAF，2023年投产，次年即成为北美最大SAF生产商。公司目前年产能为6000万加仑，计划到2028年底提升至2亿加仑。

尽管发展势头良好，SAF仍面临供应有限、成本偏高的挑战。目前阿拉斯加航空集团仅1%的燃料为SAF。行业人士介绍，以油脂类原料生产的SAF价格不到传统航油的两倍，而以捕获碳为原料的SAF环保效益最大，但价格高出数倍。美国此前通过税收抵免政策给予支持，抵免额度最高为每加仑1.75美元，后下调至1美元；欧洲则采取强制掺混要求，去年起要求2%的航空燃料为SAF，英国今年将比例提高至3.6%。

需求端的长期采购协议对推动产能建设至关重要。阿拉斯加航空和微软于2022年与Twelve合作，支持其燃料的研发与应用。弗兰德斯表示，锁定长期客户合同对项目融资意义重大。

从减排效果看，目前多数SAF可实现约80%的碳减排。据Twelve测算，若飞机完全使用E-Jet，相比传统航油可减少高达90%的排放。弗兰德斯形象地比喻，这意味着乘坐国内航班的每位乘客每英里排放量，将与乘坐伦敦地铁相当，“这确实能改变航空业对环境的影响”。

除SAF外，设计更高效的飞机、减少凝结尾迹、优化飞行计划等策略也可与SAF形成互补，共同推动航空业减排。

中文翻译：

订阅《Positive Charge》播客：苹果播客、Spotify、亚马逊音乐、全部单集

泰勒·斯威夫特因乘坐私人飞机前往时代巡回演唱会以及观看2024年超级碗上她如今的丈夫特拉维斯·凯尔西的比赛，其飞行对气候的影响在网上遭到猛烈抨击。她的代表表示，她已付费抵消与巡演相关的排放，但这场风波凸显了一个更大的问题：航空是二氧化碳的重要排放来源，而且很难解决。

飞行约占全球二氧化碳排放量的2.5%，而随着其他行业采用更清洁的能源，这一比例预计还会上升。

问题在于，航空燃油在其所做的事情上实在太出色了。它蕴含的能量足以让飞机从纽约直飞新加坡。电池等更清洁的能源根本无法企及这样的航程，而氢燃料则面临燃料储存和传输以及需要重新设计飞机等障碍。

这使得航空业目前只有一个最重要的替代方案：可持续航空燃料（SAF）。

SAF不是从地下抽取更多石油，而是利用已经存在于地球表面的碳。包括美国西部两家企业在内的制造商，正在用废弃食用油、动物脂肪、富含油脂的植物、农业和林业废弃物，甚至捕获的碳来生产这种燃料。

“SAF确实契合了我们当下乃至长远未来的需求，”阿拉斯加航空和夏威夷航空可持续发展董事总经理瑞安·斯派斯表示。“SAF就是答案，因为它是即插即用型燃料。这意味着我们不必更换飞机，也不必改变机场的运作方式。”

这种燃料的供应和使用仍然有限——例如，阿拉斯加航空集团只有1%的燃料是SAF——但全球范围内扩大生产和应用的的努力正在进行中。

Twelve的碳捕获路线

在华盛顿州中部的风滚草之乡，一家名为Twelve的初创公司去年开设了其AirPlant One工厂，并于今年夏天开始利用捕获的二氧化碳商业化生产SAF。

该厂址位于摩西湖的一片工业区，周边主要是农业区域。它的邻居包括一家化肥生产商和电池材料制造商Sila。低成本、无碳的水电吸引了企业来到该地区，不过数据中心正在加剧能源竞争。

为生产SAF，Twelve接收乙醇生产过程中作为副产品被捕获的二氧化碳。这种温室气体储存在一个巨大的白色储罐中。从那里，它被泵送通过保温银色管道，经过去除氧气并加入从水中提取的氢气的装置，生成用作燃料的碳氢化合物。这座大部分露天的设施崭新闪亮，设备高耸入云。

这家初创公司的技术可以制造多种低碳产品，包括石脑油——一种塑料前体，同样在AirPlant One生产。

该工厂设计产能为每年最多生产5万加仑SAF，品牌名为E-Jet。Twelve首席执行官兼联合创始人尼古拉斯·弗兰德斯表示，公司正在逐步提升至该产量。

“即使我们达到满产能，客户需求仍远超AirPlant One的产量，”他说。AirPlant Two——一座规模大得多的设施，年产量将达数千万加仑——已在开发中。弗兰德斯未提供该厂址的时间表或地点。

老炼油厂焕发新用途

从摩西湖驱车向东约七小时，蒙大拿可再生燃料公司正以不同的方式生产SAF。它在一座有百年历史的炼油厂生产这种燃料，该炼油厂已部分改造为可再生燃料和石脑油生产。

“这是生产SAF等可再生燃料最经济的方式，”蒙大拿可再生燃料公司商务副总裁马特·厄普迈耶说。

该设施使用的原料包括废弃食用油、来自提炼厂的牛脂以及 Camelina（亚麻荠）——一种不太为人所知的覆盖作物，能帮助农民恢复土壤，同时产出含油种子。

厄普迈耶说，蒙大拿可再生燃料公司于2023年开始生产SAF，到第二年已成为北美最大的SAF生产商，“这是一个相当了不起的数据。”

该公司在蒙大拿州大瀑布城每年可生产6000万加仑SAF，目标是到2028年底达到2亿加仑。

这一增长意义重大，但需求远不止于此。美国政府几年前设定了到2030年每年生产30亿加仑SAF的目标。最近一项涉及华盛顿州立大学研究人员的学术研究估计，届时美国有望达到21亿加仑。这一总量计入了所有美国生产商的SAF，包括菲利普斯66、世界能源、耐斯特和LanzaJet。

相比之下，美国航空公司每年使用约200亿加仑燃料，且这一数字还在上升。

更清洁的燃料价格更高

成本可以说是SAF应用的最大障碍。这种燃料比传统航空燃油更贵，但由于地缘政治影响油价，价差会波动。随着生产规模扩大，价格应该会降低，但需求将保持高位。

斯派斯提供了大致的价格比较估算。他说，由脂肪、油和油脂制成的SAF——目前最常见的形式——交易价格不到航空燃油的两倍。斯派斯说，像Twelve这样由捕获碳制成的SAF具有最大的环境效益，但“价格要贵好几倍”。

政策可以帮助缩小差距。美国使用了“胡萝卜”政策，如2022年设立的每加仑最高1.75美元的税收抵免，但随着特朗普总统重返白宫，该抵免被削减至1美元。欧洲则选择了“大棒”：要求从去年起2%的航空燃油必须为SAF，今年英国将这一比例提高到3.6%。

客户正在签署燃料购买协议，这可以锁定价格并创造需求，从而鼓励更多生产。阿拉斯加航空和微软于2022年与Twelve合作，支持其燃料的开发和使用，帮助为摩西湖工厂的产出创造需求。

弗兰德斯说，让客户签署这些长期协议“对确保项目融资至关重要”。

衡量SAF的气候效益

虽然SAF是短期内遏制航空排放的最佳燃料，但燃烧时仍会产生二氧化碳。但与石油基航空燃油释放原本封存于地下的碳不同，SAF循环利用的是已经在植物、动物和大气中流通的碳。

此外，还有其他遏制航空影响的策略可以与SAF相辅相成，包括设计更高效的飞机、防止凝结尾迹的形成，以及使用减少排放的飞行计划。

目前生产的大多数SAF可减少80%的排放。根据Twelve的计算，如果飞机使用纯E-Jet，与航空燃油相比，该航班的碳排放可削减高达90%（生产和运输会产生一些碳成本）。

Twelve的弗兰德斯对效益做了形象的说明。

“飞行时排放降低90%，意味着乘坐国内航班的人均英里排放量与乘坐伦敦地铁相同，”他说。当飞行与乘坐火车相当时，“它确实能改变航空对环境的影响。”

来源与参考

采访：

• 尼古拉斯·弗兰德斯，Twelve首席执行官兼联合创始人
• 瑞安·斯派斯，阿拉斯加航空和夏威夷航空可持续发展董事总经理
• 马特·厄普迈耶，蒙大拿可再生燃料公司商务副总裁
• 科迪·麦克诺顿，Twelve制造工厂厂长
• 迈克尔·唐纳森，Twelve制造工厂环境、健康与安全总监

来源：

• 《可持续航空燃料正在起飞。它到底是什么？》，Canary Media，2024年11月21日
• 《对实现2030年美国可持续航空燃料目标的务实评估》，《生物质与生物能源》，2026年3月
• 《欧洲在转向更清洁航空燃油方面扩大对美国和亚洲的领先优势》，彭博社，2026年8月13日

英文来源：

Subscribe to Positive Charge: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, All Episodes
Taylor Swift was pilloried online over the climate impacts of her private jet travel for the Eras Tour and to see Travis Kelce, now her husband, play in the 2024 Super Bowl. Her representatives said she paid to offset the tour-related emissions, but the uproar highlighted a bigger problem: Aviation is a serious source of carbon dioxide, and it’s tough to fix.
Flying accounts for roughly 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and that share is expected to rise as other sectors adopt cleaner power.
The trouble is that jet fuel is so good at what it does. It holds enough energy to fly a plane nonstop from New York to Singapore. Cleaners sources likes batteries can’t begin to match that range, and hydrogen fuel faces hurdles including fuel storage and transfer and the need for aircraft redesigns.
That leaves aviation with one top alternative for today: sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
Instead of pumping more oil from underground, SAF uses carbon already on the earth’s surface. Manufacturers — including two in the American West — are making the fuel from sources such as cooking oil, animal fats, oil-rich plants, farm and forestry waste, or even captured carbon.
“SAF really fits a need that we have today and long into the future,” said Ryan Spies, managing director of sustainability at Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. “SAF is the answer because it’s a drop-in fuel. That means we don’t have to change our planes, we don’t have to change what’s happening at the airport.”
The fuel remains in limited supply and use — only 1% of Alaska Air Group’s fuel is SAF, for example — but efforts are underway to expand production and adoption worldwide.
Twelve’s captured-carbon approach
In tumbleweed country in central Washington, a startup called Twelve opened its AirPlant One facility last year and began commercially producing SAF from captured carbon dioxide this summer.
The site sits in an industrial stretch of Moses Lake in a largely agricultural area. Its neighbors include a fertilizer producer and battery materials manufacturer Sila. Low-cost, carbon-free hydropower has drawn businesses to the region, though data centers are creating competition for the energy.
To manufacture SAF, Twelve takes delivery of carbon dioxide that’s captured as a byproduct of ethanol production. The greenhouse gas is stored in a giant white tank. From there it’s pumped through insulated silver pipes that carry it through devices that remove oxygen and add hydrogen taken from water, producing the hydrocarbons that serve as fuel. The largely outdoor facility is shiny and new, with equipment stretching skyward.
The startup’s technology can make a variety of low-carbon products, including naphtha, a plastics precursor also produced at AirPlant One.
The site is designed to make up to 50,000 gallons of SAF, which is branded as E-Jet. The company is ramping up to that volume, said Nicholas Flanders, CEO and co-founder of Twelve.
“Even when we’re at that full capacity, there’s a lot more customer demand than we can make at AirPlant One,” he said. AirPlant Two, a much bigger facility that would make tens of millions of gallons a year, is already in development. Flanders did not provide a timeline or location for the site.
Old refinery finds a new purpose
About seven hours east of Moses Lake by car, Montana Renewables is producing SAF with a different approach. It makes the fuel at a century-old oil refinery that has been partially converted to renewable fuel and naphtha production.
“That’s the most economical way to to produce renewable fuels like SAF,” said Matt Upmeyer, vice president of commercial for Montana Renewables.
The facility uses feedstocks including used cooking oil, beef tallow from rendering plants and camelina, a lesser-known cover crop that helps farmers restore soil and also produces an oily seed.
Montana Renewables began making SAF in 2023, and by the next year was the largest SAF producer in North America, Upmeyer said, “which is a pretty cool stat.”
The company can produce 60 million gallons of SAF a year in Great Falls, Mont., and aims to reach 200 million gallons by the end of 2028.
That growth is significant, but the need is much higher. The U.S. government set a goal a few years ago of producing 3 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030. A recent academic study involving researchers at Washington State University estimates the country could potentially reach 2.1 billion gallons by then. That total counts SAF from all U.S. producers, including Phillips 66, World Energy, Neste and LanzaJet.
By comparison, U.S. airlines use about 20 billion gallons of fuel a year, and that number is rising.
Cleaner fuel carries a premium
Cost is arguably the biggest hurdle to SAF adoption. The fuel is more expensive than traditional jet fuel, but the gap fluctuates because geopolitics moves oil prices. It should get cheaper as production scales, though demand will remain high.
Spies offered rough estimates for price comparisons. SAF made from fats, oils and greases — the most common form today — trades at less than double the price of jet fuel, he said. SAF from captured carbon, like Twelve’s, has the greatest environmental benefit, Spies said, but is “multiple times more expensive.”
Policy can help close the gap. The U.S. has used “carrots” such as a tax credit of up to $1.75 per gallon, created in 2022, but that was cut to $1 with President Trump’s return to office. Europe has opted for “sticks”: a requirement that 2% of jet fuel be SAF starting last year, which rose to 3.6% in the United Kingdom this year.
Customers are signing fuel purchase agreements, which can lock in prices and create demand that encourages more production. Alaska Airlines and Microsoft partnered with Twelve in 2022 to support its fuel’s development and use, helping create demand for the Moses Lake plant’s output.
Getting customers to sign these long-term deals “is really important for securing project financing,” Flanders said.
Measuring SAF’s climate benefits
While SAF is the best near-term fuel for reining in aviation emissions, it still produces carbon dioxide when burned. But unlike petroleum-based jet fuel, which releases carbon that would otherwise stay trapped underground, SAF recycles carbon already in circulation in plants, animals and the atmosphere.
And there are other strategies for curbing aviation’s impacts that can compliment SAF, including designing more efficient planes, preventing contrail formation, and using flight plans that reduce emissions.
Most SAF produced today provides an 80% reduction. By Twelve’s calculations, if a plane used straight E-Jet, it could slash the flight’s carbon emissions up to 90% compared with jet fuel (there are some carbon costs for production and transportation).
Twelve’s Flanders put the benefits in perspective.
“To have 90% lower emissions when you fly, that would mean taking a domestic flight would have the same emissions per passenger mile as taking the London Tube,” he said. With flying on par with taking the train, “it really can change the impact of aviation on the environment.
Sources and references
Interviews:

• Nicholas Flanders, CEO and co-founder of Twelve
• Ryan Spies, managing director of sustainability at Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines
• Matt Upmeyer, vice president of commercial for Montana Renewables
• Cody McNaughton, plant manager for Twelve’s manufacturing facility
• Michael Donaldson, director of environment, health and safety at Twelve’s manufacturing facility
  Sources:
• “Sustainable aviation fuel is taking off. What is it, exactly?“, Canary Media, Nov. 21, 2024
• “Pragmatic assessment of meeting the 2030 U.S. sustainable aviation fuel goal,” Biomass and Bioenergy, March 2026
• “Europe Widens Its Lead Over US, Asia in Switch to Cleaner Jet Fuel,” Bloomberg, Aug. 13, 2026