Applied Research Associates Inc. and Chevron Lummus Global LLC recently announced that ASTM International has approved a new production pathway for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) called “Catalytic Hydrothermolysis Jet,” or CHJ.

ASTM D7566 Annex A6 was approved Dec. 15 and published Jan. 29 in the revised specification for “Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons,” ASTM D7566-19b.  

The new annex allows blending of up to 50 percent of ARA and CLG’s trademarked ReadiJet with petroleum-derived jet fuel. ReadiJet is produced by the Biofuels Isoconversion process, which consists of hydrothermal conversion and hydrotreating operations that convert waste fats, oils and greases into biobased jet fuel that, according to ARA, contains a uniform distribution of all hydrocarbon types observed in petroleum fuels including aromatic, cycloparaffin, isoparaffin, and normal paraffin compounds. 

The Biofuels Isoconversion process was jointly developed by ARA and CLG, and CLG is the sole point of contact for licensing and engineering the process.

“This was a huge team effort to scale and commercialize the technology and achieve the certification of the jet fuel,” said Ed Coppola, who led ARA’s certification effort.

Thad Sauvain, CLG’s global licensing and sales director, said, “This ASTM certification is further proof of the viability of the products from our technology.”

According to ARA, multiple commercial projects in the U.S. are in the engineering phase, and Euglena Corp. is working to start up its integrated Biofuels Isoconversion demonstration facility in Japan with the intent to deliver CHJ for commercial flights during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.