Cathay Pacific is one of the first airlines to invest in the technology behind SAFs, rather than simply buying batches of biofuel. It has committed to buying 1.1 million tonnes of SAF over 10 years – enough for about two per cent of Cathay Pacific’s current operations – from 2020 from US-based Fulcrum BioEnergy, which will create fuel from household waste. In May, Fulcrum BioEnergy broke ground on its first biorefinery at its Sierra plant, 30 kilometres outside Reno, Nevada.

The feedstock centre, which has already been built, will process municipal and household waste otherwise bound for landfill, harvesting carbon and hydrogen from the organic portion to be converted into certified jet and diesel fuel, with a carbon content 80 per cent lower than fossil fuels.

Inorganic waste which can’t be converted to fuel is separated, along with recyclable metals and plastics, and sold on.

The remaining feedstock is then put into contact with high pressure steam to create a ‘syngas’ made up molecules of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and CO2. This gas is then refined into a liquid fuel using the Fischer-Tropsch process. The resulting syncrude can then be further refined into jet fuel, diesel and a thicker residue suitable for fuelling ships. Unlike fossil fuels, these are sulphur-free and contain very few metals.

When the facility is up and running in 2020, it will be able to convert 175,000 tonnes of waste into 30,000 tonnes of fuel each year. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the refinery, Jim Macias, Fulcrum co-founder, said: ‘This plant is going to change the way rubbish is disposed of and change the emissions of air transportation globally.’