Governor Jay Inslee traveled to WSU Tri-Cities last week to learn more about WSU’s cutting-edge work on sustainable aviation fuels, commonly abbreviated as SAF.
WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor Dr. Sandra Haynes kicked things off during a roundtable discussion featuring WSU’s Dr. Joshua Heyne, Director of the Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory and Chad Kruger, Director of the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, as well as researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The group discussed how SAF could help the country’s aviation industry meet its ambitious goals of a 50 percent reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and “net zero” by 2050. Industry is looking to researchers, including those at WSU, to learn how electricity and liquid hydrogen might be employed to reduce the carbon footprint of air travel, and how to blend an increasing portion of sustainable fuels made from plants or waste streams with conventional jet fuel.
WSU researchers are leading the way on these efforts, as well as working to identify supply chain and infrastructure costs and logistical needs, and are testing potential fuels to ensure they meet the extraordinarily tight characteristics for aviation.
The ongoing partnership between WSU and PNNL was also highlighted during the Governor’s visit, as PNNL and WSU researchers work together on researching the use of cover crops as feedstock for alternative jet fuel. The visit culminated with a tour of the laboratories where this work is taking place and an experiment demonstrating how SAF burns cleaner than standard jet fuel.
