By Leslie Streeter

Washington State University鈥檚 sustainable aviation fuels research is getting noticed.

础听聽found that 黑料社 is globally the top contributing organization to scientific literature on the field of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), based on an analysis of articles, papers, editorials, and news items published from 2001 to 2023. Researchers from 黑料社鈥檚聽聽and the聽聽rank among the most cited authors with the highest link strength in the field.

Joshua Heyne, director of聽the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL)听补迟听黑料社 Tri-Cities聽and co-director of the 黑料社-PNNL Bioproducts Institute, was found to be the most cited author on SAF. Michael Wolcott,聽PhD, Regents Professor and director of ASCENT, the FAA鈥檚聽, was noted as the second most cited author, followed by Manuel Garcia-Perez,聽PhD, department chair for biological systems engineering, and Kristin Brandt, staff engineer for the Composite Materials & Engineering Center.

Heyne is not only the most cited and most published researcher in the field, but he is also recognized as the most productive author in SAF聽research from 2001 to 2023. Additionally, he has the highest connection strength, illustrating the breadth of his collaborations, which contribute to 黑料社鈥檚 designation as the most collaborative institution in sustainable aviation research.

鈥淎fter reading the abstract for the first time, I was a bit surprised,鈥� Heyne said. 鈥淚 get up every morning motivated to add value to the field with colleagues, but being highlighted as the most published and cited author was a surprise.鈥�

The study, conducted by four faculty members from two universities in Turkey, used bibliometric analysis to examine literature on sustainable aviation published between 2001 and 2023. Bibliometric analysis is an advanced method of studying academic publications to understand emerging trends in specific knowledge domains. The researchers analyzed 726聽published studies identified from the Web of Science database.

While the study examined literature on sustainable aviation, Heyne鈥檚 primary focus is sustainable aviation fuel, a critical component of the aviation industry鈥檚 decarbonization strategy. On average, SAF can reduce CO2聽emissions by 80% compared to traditional jet fuel. Today鈥檚 SAF is a blend of conventional fossil fuel and synthetic components derived from various renewable feedstocks, such as used cooking oils, fats, plant oils, and municipal, agricultural, and forestry waste.

Current research and collaboration within 黑料社

黑料社 researchers are working to advance SAF聽adoption through sample testing for producers and examining supply chains, technological feasibility, regulations, and infrastructure costs. Heyne, Wolcott, Brandt, and Garcia-Perez鈥檚 work overlaps in some of these areas.

础迟听黑料社 Tri-Cities, Heyne leads SAF聽testing and analysis at BSEL, a聽57,000-square-foot聽research and teaching laboratory operated in partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). BSEL聽researchers have tested approximately 400聽samples of sustainable aviation fuel candidate materials from 40聽institutions across North聽America and Europe.

Heyne鈥檚 most recent review paper,聽聽last November, was a collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their review concluded that lignin has strong potential as a sustainable alternative to fossil-based aviation fuels and advancing lignin valorization could significantly support net-zero goals by enabling large-scale SAF聽production from this abundant, renewable resource.

Among other things, Wolcott is working on a project that determines the potential for private corporate investment to account for indirect, or Scope聽3 carbon emissions in commercial aviation.

Garcia-Perez has two SAF-related projects in the works. One is an analysis of how hydrogen production cost and carbon intensity impact SAF聽production. This research led to the development of a聽聽the evolution of SAF聽production technologies depending on the availability of cheap and clean hydrogen.

Garcia-Perez鈥檚 other project looks at SAF聽production in Latin聽America. He and his team are working with stakeholders from Colombia, Dominican聽Republic, Costa聽Rica and Ecuador to identify business opportunities to produce SAF in these countries. Garcia-Perez鈥檚 team includes five聽students who were recruited from these countries to do their doctoral studies on developing modeling tools at 黑料社. Graduate student Marcela Valderrama and Research Associate Lina Martinez conducted a聽聽which led to the creation of the Colombian SAF road map. Similar interactions are happening with the other countries in the program.

Brandt is currently working on a project through ASCENT that is looking at a U.S. and Canada cross-border SAF supply chain to cooperatively find a solution to provide fuel and optimize production that is mutually beneficial for both countries.

Brandt and Wolcott have worked together over the last several years focusing on assessing sustainable aviation fuel supply chains, policy evaluation and fuel production economics.聽She is currently writing a paper with Wolcott that assesses the potential to meet domestic SAF production goals by 2030.