Aerosol Emissions from Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)

Emissions from fossil fuel use in aviation contribute to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions and high-altitude effects. Emerging evidence show links between exposure to ultrafine particles from aviation and adverse health effects.

A transition to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is expected to become the major pathway to reach a net-zero emission aviation sector.

Sweden is aiming to be a leader in the development of SAF-based aviation technologies with the new competence centre CESTAP.Here we describe a multidisciplinary research collaboration with the aim to quantify how SAF fuels changes aerosol emissions of relevance for air quality, health and high altitude climate forcing.

State of the art aerosol emission measurements will be added to the activities within CESTAP at the new Jet Engine Laboratory at Lund University. Emissions will be linked to fuel properties and combustion conditions by combining modelling and measurement. Source signatures of SAF emissions will be provided to aid air quality modelling.

Particle properties of relevance for toxicological effects will be determined.

The vision is to closely connect the development of SAF based aviation technologies to research programs on toxicology, health impact assessment and climate forcing by aerosols and thereby enable SAF fuels with minimised health and climate impact.