Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from Ethanol
Geography: Americas · South America · Brazil
Brazil passed the 'Fuel of the Future' law establishing mandatory SAF blending targets for aviation. The alcohol-to-jet pathway converts ethanol — already produced at massive scale — into drop-in jet fuel. BNDES (Brazil's development bank) committed R$1 billion to build a plant in Andradina, São Paulo, producing SAF from second-generation ethanol using sugarcane bagasse.
Embraer has certified and flown aircraft on ethanol-derived biofuel, building on its 2004 certification of the ethanol-powered Ipanema agricultural aircraft. The company is positioned to supply both the aircraft and the fuel ecosystem.
The economics require a premium over conventional jet fuel, but Brazil has structural advantages: cheap sugarcane, existing ethanol infrastructure, and a regulatory mandate. If ATJ technology matures, Brazil's ethanol industry could pivot from ground transport to aviation — extending its biofuel dominance into the last major fossil-fuel-dependent transport sector.
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