Alder SAF100: 100% Biogenic Aviation Fuel

Unlocking 100% SAF

The aviation industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize. While passenger numbers continue to rise, new propulsion technologies such as electrification and hydrogen remain years from commercial deployment. Scalable, sustainable liquid fuels are therefore essential to achieving climate goals.

Alder SAF100 demonstrates that a fully biogenic jet fuel can be produced by combining ARC hydrocarbons (majority) with HEFA-SAF (minority). The result is a 100% sustainable fuel that replicates the performance of fossil jet fuel while delivering significant carbon intensity reductions.

Alder partnered with Washington State University (WSU), Honeywell UOP, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and World Energy. Hydroprocessing and distillation were completed with technical support from Honeywell UOP, fuel property prescreening at WSU, and independent finished fuel testing at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).

Technical Insights

Early testing and analysis reveal promising results:

• Higher Fuel Density & Energy Content – Hydrotreated ARC hydrocarbons provide cycloparaffins and trace aromatics, boosting volumetric energy density compared to HEFA-SAF alone. This enables more efficient flight performance with fewer gallons consumed per mile.

• Low-Temperature Performance – Blending ARC-derived molecules into HEFA-SAF lowers freezing point and viscosity, ensuring reliable flow at high altitudes.

• Cleaner Combustion – ARC’s cycloparaffins help reduce soot formation while maintaining essential O-ring seal performance—solving one of the key barriers to 100% SAF adoption.

Together, these properties position Alder SAF100 as a strong candidate for replacing petroleum-derived jet fuel without compromising on safety or performance.

Industry Perspectives

“We are delighted to support Alder’s efforts to commercialize Alder SAF100. This iterative prescreening approach de-risks scale-up and highlights opportunities to accelerate development milestones,” said Josh Heyne, Director of the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Lab at WSU.

“Unlocking 100% SAF is essential for the aviation sector to meet its decarbonization targets,” said Zia Abdullah, Laboratory Program Manager for Bioenergy at NREL. “Alder’s ARC platform shows clear potential to provide the right molecular mix at scale.”

Looking Ahead

Alder SAF100 demonstrates how our ARC platform can serve as a scalable foundation for next-generation SAF. While more work remains to scale production and integrate with refiners, this milestone illustrates the technical feasibility and performance potential of 100% biogenic jet fuel.