ASTM approves use of ethanol for aviation biofuel

In Pennsylvania, last week ASTM emerging fuels division voted in favor of a new global specification that can now open the floodgates to significant volumes of renewable aviation fuel. This historic jet fuel specification is a direct nexus between the global ethanol industry and the aviation sector, connecting two mature industries that could never be linked in the past. Now ethanol can be used as a feedstock to make renewable jet fuel. The global network of ethanol production and distribution is well established, as is the downstream petroleum infrastructure delivering jet fuel. This new ASTM specification allows these two global supply chains to connect so as to produce renewable jet fuel in significant volumes, and in places where it could not be produced before.