Phillips 66 will supply United Airlines with up to 8 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over the next seven months thanks to incentives from the State of Illinois. Phillips and United have signed a firm agreement for 3 million gallons to be delivered to O’Hare and 600,000 gallons to be delivered to LAX. The deal could be expanded to a total of 8 million gallons through the first half of 2025. The SAF, which is made from waste fats, oil and greases, will be blended with regular Jet-A at refineries in Illinois and California. It’s not clear what the ratio of SAF to Jet-A will be.
Illinois is providing tax credits for the use of SAF. Phillips says the fuel from renewable sources puts out only 15% of the greenhouse gas emissions compared to regular fossil fuel-derived Jet-A. SAF puts out as much C02 as regular fuel but because that carbon is already circulating in the environment it doesn’t add to the atmospheric load like carbon pulled up from deep in the earth. Aviation is betting big on SAF to get it to “net zero” in terms of carbon emissions by 2050.
