The initial two 7,000-plus-gallon shipments of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) were delivered to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) this fall. The SAF was made from Minnesota and North Dakota-grown winter camelina (a winter-hardy oilseed crop) as part of Delta Air Lines’ work with the Minnesota SAF Hub coalition. The network of coalition members and outside partners came together across the value chain to deliver SAF to MSP and DTW:
- Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis worked with Minnesota and North Dakota growers in fall last year to plant 2,000 acres of winter camelina, which was harvested this summer and used as a feedstock for the SAF.
- The camelina was processed at Cargill’s West Fargo, North Dakota, crush plant and then sent on to Montana Renewables LLC (MRL) of Great Falls, Montana, where it was refined and blended into SAF.
- The camelina SAF was sold to Delta Air Lines and transported by Shell Aviation from Montana Renewables directly to the MSP fueling facility—where it entered the MSP fuel supply—and to a Buckeye Partners facility in Dearborn, Michigan, where it was then pumped directly via pipeline to DTW.
- Delta covered the cost of SAF needed for both airports to use the SAF on Delta Air Lines flights.
“The fact that SAF has been delivered to MSP and DTW is monumental because not only is it the first time SAF has arrived at these airports, both of which are important Delta hubs, but it also demonstrates why collaboration cross the entire SAF value chain is so important —we need all the right stakeholders and partners at the table to drive results,” says Amelia DeLuca, Delta Air Lines chief sustainability officer.
The delivery of sustainable aviation fuel was also made possible by current federal and state policies, like the Inflation Reduction Act and Minnesota’s SAF credit. Delta is working across key states for continued and new government incentives to increase production, improve cost-competitiveness, and level the playing field from farmers to producers for more equitable access to SAF.
With around 90% of Delta’s carbon emissions coming from jet fuel, the use of SAF is the best and fastest known way to reduce carbon emissions in the near term in conjunction with Delta Air Lines’ announced goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
SAF is a safe and certified alternative jet fuel that can reduce lifecycle carbon emissions of jet fuel by more than 80% compared to conventional jet fuel. However, as a nascent industry, there is not enough SAF being produced today to fuel the world’s airlines for a single week, and it isn’t at a commercially viable price point. This is why the work to scale SAF in Minnesota and Michigan is so critical, and why coalitions like the Minnesota SAF Hub can drive results that deliver SAF directly to hubs in these states.
Over the last year, the Minnesota SAF Hub, of which Delta is an anchor partner, has made meaningful progress toward operating the first large-scale, end-to-end SAF value chain in the U.S. In September this year, Delta and the Minnesota SAF Hub announced major milestones, including the first blending facility in Minnesota in collaboration with Delta and Flint Hills Resources. The facility will blend up to 30 million gallons of neat SAF at its Pine Blend Refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota, and is expected to be operational by the end of next year.
While sustainable aviation fuel production is scaling, the reality is that supply today remains limited and it is not always physically available at the right location. Rather than transporting SAF from where it is produced (often in California and soon in Minnesota) to where airlines need it, the industry uses a “book-and-claim” model to enable uplift of SAF where it is available to displace conventional jet fuel, and claim it wherever it is needed. This is what Delta did on two notable flights this summer—one from Atlanta, Georgia, to Normandy, France, that commemorated the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, and also on the LA28 Flag Flight, which carried the Olympic flag from Paris to Los Angeles. This model is the optimal way to utilize existing SAF without creating greater emissions by transporting it farther away from where it is produced. In other cases, such as in Minnesota and Michigan currently, SAF can be dropped into existing fuel supply in place of conventional jet fuel in the same location where it will be claimed.
