Aviation Fuels

Explore the fuel price and emissions intensity of aviation fuel.

Emissions estimates use the Argonne National Laboratory's GREET model (Wang et al., 2022). The underlying source for a value in the table can be seen by placing your mouse cursor over that value. The data sources are also cited—with hyperlinked linked references—in the Key Assumptions section below.   

Key Assumptions

The data and estimates presented here are based on the following key assumptions:

• Conventional Jet Fuel Price Estimates: The conventional jet fuel price is estimated from the transportation jet fuel price from EIA's Annual Energy Outlook (EIA, 2021). Prices are converted to dollars per gasoline gallon equivalent using the Lower Heating Values from the GREET model (Wang et al., 2021), assuming sustainable aviation fuel pathways have the same lower heating value as conventional jet fuel. The Transportation ATB does not provide plant metrics for conventional jet fuel because the price is based on current market values and not on modeled costs with specific plant design assumptions.
• Price Estimate References: The price estimate for ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) fuel is based on Tao et al. (Tao et al., 2014) and Tao, Markham et al. (Tao et al., 2017a). For the hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) pathway, it is based on analysis from Tao, Milbrandt et al. (Tao et al., 2017b). For the Fischer Tropsch (FT) pathway, it is based on analysis from Tan et al. (Tan et al., 2017). 
• Current Pathways: HEFA, ETJ, and FT pathways to sustainable aviation fuels are approved by ASTM for blending up to 50% of the final product. The pathways for future fuels are not the same as current pathways. 
• Conventional Jet Fuel Estimates: Emissions estimates for conventional jet fuel are from the GREET model (Wang et al., 2022)  and use the petroleum ultra-low-sulfur jet pathways. The well-to-wake estimate assumes a single-aisle passenger aircraft (e.g., Boeing 737).
• Emissions Estimate References: The emissions for the ETJ pathway are based on (Han et al., 2017). For the HEFA pathway they are based on (Xu et al., 2022) and for the FT pathway they are based on (Han et al., 2013).
• Biogenic Carbon: The biogenic carbon in a biofuel such as the sustainable aviation fuel pathway is considered carbon-neutral in the GREET model, as the biogenic carbon is assumed to be sourced from the atmosphere during biomass growth. Per GREET model convention, the biogenic carbon credit is allocated to the well-to-tank phase of the biofuel life cycle, which often results in a negative well-to-tank CO2e emissions value after taking into account greenhouse gas emissions associated with all upstream activities (e.g., farming, land use change, feedstock transportation, and biomass conversion to biofuel).

The data downloads include additional details of assumptions and calculations for each metric.

To see additional information, place your mouse cursor over a value in the table. 

Definitions

For detailed definitions, see:

CO2e

NOx

SOx

PM

Conventional jet fuel

Fuel price

Scenarios

Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Well-to-tank emissions

Well-to-wake emissions

References

The following references are specific to this page; for all references in this ATB, see References.