Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is being highlighted as a key technology to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation industry. Domestic researchers have developed a technology that simplifies the production process of SAF, enabling cost reduction.
Lee Woong-hee, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Clean Energy Research Center, noted on the 24th that his research team successfully converted actual biomass extracted from lignin into SAF raw material at room temperature and pressure using electrochemical technology.
Lignin is one of the main components constituting plant cell walls, serving to enhance the strength of wood and connect cells as a polymer compound. Until now, SAF production technologies utilizing lignin found in plant-based biomass such as waste wood or rice straw were mostly reliant on thermochemical processes under high temperature and pressure conditions. This was necessary to rapidly decompose the highly viscous lignin. However, the processes were complex, energy-consuming, and had low production efficiency.
The research team developed an electrochemical technology that converts lignin oil into SAF raw material by decomposing it at room temperature and pressure. They precisely adjusted the properties of the substances to better decompose lignin oil. As a result, they were able to increase the current efficiency and selectivity from the previous 10% to over 60%. The conversion rate of lignin oil into SAF raw material reached 98%.
The research team stated, "If this technology is advanced, it could lower the production cost of SAF," adding that, "It could provide a practical solution for the aviation industry, which has hesitated to adopt SAF due to cost burdens and complicated production processes."
The results of this research were published in the international journal "Journal of the American Chemical Society" in January.
References
Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c14254