Conference Agenda

Scaling sustainable aviation fuel production is central to aviation decarbonization, yet policymakers and investors face uncertainty over which conversion pathways can deliver economically viable fuel while generating meaningful regional economic benefits. Holding total sustainable aviation fuel fixed at one hundred million gallons, we evaluate the technoeconomic feasibility and regional economic impacts three technology pathways, Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids, Fischer Tropsch, and Alcohol to Jet, in the southern US under both single-technology and mixed-portfolio deployment scenarios. We show that technology pathway choice alone fundamentally reshapes cost structures, co-product revenues, employment intensity, and tax generation. AtJ achieves lowest minimum selling prices, FT generates larger co-product streams and stronger regional economic spillovers. HEFA’s commercial maturity is constrained by high feedstock cost, low co-product production efficiency, and mediocre economic impact at the regional scale. Mixed-pathway portfolios mitigate trade-offs between cost competitiveness and regional economic impacts, providing an alternative solution to single-pathway deployment by building feedstock resiliency, diversifying economic impacts, and broadening employment opportunities. These findings demonstrate that SAF deployment strategy—not only production volume—plays a key role in determining economic outcomes, providing actionable guidance for regional planners and policymakers designing scalable, economically resilient SAF supply systems.