Air BP announces 1st sale of ISCC EU sustainable aviation fuel coprocessed at Castellón refinery

From left, Jesus Presa, account manager, Air BP; Francisco Quintana, vice president refining, BP Castellón; Matias E. Cortina, vice president commercial EMEA LATAM Cargo; and Julio Casas, regional sales director, Air BP (Photo: BP PLC)

Air BP announced March 3 the first sale of International Sustainability and Carbon Certification EU SAF from BP’s Castellón refinery in Spain.

The flight was carried out by LATAM Cargo Chile from Zaragoza, Spain, to North America.

This latest announcement builds on its experience of supplying ISCC Plus SAF, first completed in July 2021*.

Underlining the role of coprocessing using existing refineries to meet SAF demand, this ISCC EU SAF is produced from sustainable feedstocks processed alongside fossil feedstocks.

“This latest announcement marks another important milestone for Air BP as we work towards making SAF more available,” said Andreea Moyes, Air BP’s global sustainability director. “As a key step in replacing fossil fuel with renewable feedstock within existing refineries, coprocessing has an integral role to play in scaling up SAF production in the most economical and efficient way. We believe that all technologies and pathways, and both standalone and coprocessing. are needed to help the industry decarbonize and reach its goal of net zero by 2050. The supply of ISCC EU SAF from Castellón will open new opportunities throughout the country and beyond.”

Andrés Bianchi, CEO of LATAM Cargo, added, “We are proud to collaborate with Air BP as its first customer to refuel with ISCC EU SAF from the Castellón refinery. This flight represents one of our most concrete steps in our SAF fuel agenda. As a group, LATAM is committed to contributing to the protection and care of the environment, so this first fueling reflects the importance of the collaboration of all players in the logistics chain including AENA and Exolum."

The ISCC EU SAF supplied by Air BP is made from waste-based sustainable feedstock procured by the Castellón refinery and coprocessed together with fossil fuel.

BP’s Castellón Refinery, Spain (Photo: BP PLC)

Currently coprocessing of sustainable feedstock at up to 5 percent is permitted within the jet-fuel specification and BP has launched an industry taskforce looking to increase this to 30 percent.

This sustainable component has an attributed saving of around 80 percent carbon emissions over its lifecycle compared with the conventional jet fuel it replaces.

BP aims to increase SAF production further in future and recently announced that as part of the hydrogen cluster of the Valencia Region (HyVal), its production of biofuels, including SAF, is expected to increase three-fold, to approximately 220 million gallons a year in Castellón by 2030.

Green hydrogen will be used as a feedstock for the production of SAF in an independent unit.

Air BP has been enabling ground-breaking test flights and investing in sustainable alternatives since 2008.

To date, the business has supplied SAF to more than 30 locations.

*The EU version of ISCC is the one recognized by the European Commission to demonstrate compliance with legal requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive. The ISCC Plus version is a voluntary certification standard for noncompliance-regulated markets.