Fuel Qualification
The aviation industry has thus far pursued “drop-in” alternative fuel options for commercial aviation, for which commercial engines, pipelines, fuel farms, and all other distribution and storage elements would require no new, modified, or segregated equipment or infrastructure. As a result, the sector has developed rigorous testing requirements to compare the properties of new, alternative jet fuels to petroleum-derived jet fuel to determine whether a fuel can be considered “drop-in.” This process and the development and management of specifications for alternative aviation fuels are accomplished in the United States by ASTM International’s Committee D02.J0.06 (Synthetic Aviation Turbine Fuels).
CAAFI's Role
CAAFI’s members are engaged in two ways to assist potential producers with understanding and navigating their way through eventual industry fuel qualification.
1) The CAAFI Certification and Qualification (CQ) Team helps to facilitate promising alternative jet fuels through the industry evaluation process towards the goal of specification issuance by ASTM International and other recognized certifying bodies. CAAFI’s CQ Team provides guidance regarding the ASTM qualification process that involves collecting data, writing reports, and various reviews.
2) The CAAFI Research and Development (R&D) Team can assist early-stage technology developers or potential producers prior to CQ and ASTM engagement by:
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Helping them understand their pending aviation engagement;
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Identifying key technology needs and highlighting such in white papers targeted to various agencies and research institutions;
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Facilitating Fuel Prescreening testing and analysis efforts designed to allow for process tweaks that might streamline their eventual qualification efforts.
Current Status
D4054 Fuel Approval Process
Below are suggested steps to facilitate the D4054 fuel qualification process of getting your fuel approved for deployment and commercialization. For more information, please see the CAAFI “Path to Alternative Jet Fuel Readiness” briefing document that outlines the process of fuel development, qualification, and certification, and the role of CAAFI in facilitating the process in more detail.
Get to Know the Aviation Community
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To establish your company as an SAF provider, it is beneficial to develop relationships and engage the aviation community to share what you are working on and explain its potential for meeting aviation needs. Becoming a member of CAAFI is a great way to do this.
Establish Your Product as a Viable Aviation Fuel
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A new fuel producer must demonstrate the viability of their fuel for aviation (i.e., fuel performance, fitness for purpose, and environmental benefits). A lack of due diligence or basic progress in these areas can entirely halt your fuel’s acceptance.
Conduct Technical/Performance Evaluation
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ASTM D4054 defines the guidance for technical evaluation of aviation fuels. To establish your fuel as a viable aviation jet fuel, you must develop data in accordance with D4054 for review by aviation fuel community stakeholders.
Conduct Environmental Evaluation
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You should be continually looking for ways to improve the environmental performance of your fuel production process and feedstock. Aviation fuel purchasers will be looking for a greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) indicating that your fuel produces lower life cycle GHG emissions than conventional petroleum fuel. Your GHG LCA should be performed according to an internationally accepted methodology.
Engage with the Aviation Industry regarding Commercial Progress and Fuel Availability for Testing
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ASTM International Committee D.02, Petroleum and Lubricants, Subcommittee J, is responsible for the evaluation and qualification of new aviation fuels. Prospective alternative fuel producers will need to participate in this committee and engage the other committee members in the evaluation and qualification process. The qualification process is detailed below.
D4054 Qualification Process Overview
1) Commercial aircraft manufacturers certify that their aircraft will achieve mandated performance and operability aspects when they operate with fuel meeting certain criteria defined in an internationally recognized specification. If an operator uses fuel that meets this specification, then the aircraft operates as expected. The most commonly used specification of conventional aviation turbine fuel is ASTM D1655 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuels), while other equivalent standards may exist (e.g., DEF STAN 91-091). ASTM D1655 allows for alternative fuels that demonstrate their equivalence to conventional jet fuel and are listed in ASTM D7566, to be redesignated as D1655 fuel.
2) New SAF must go through ASTM’s D4054 Evaluation Process to determine if it is equivalent (either neat or as a blend) to conventional jet fuel.
3) If the fuel is determined to be equivalent, an Annex with the new SAF (including any required blending level) is added to the D7566 Drop-In Fuel Specification.
4) Since the D7566 Drop-In Fuels Specification meets the ASTM Conventional Fuel Specification D1655, the new SAF is approved for use in all existing commercial aircraft.
The current ASTM D4054 Evaluation Process for getting a fuel qualified for commercial use includes the following phases (also see figure below):
Approved Fuels
The following drop-in alternative jet fuels went through the D4054 process and are qualified for commercial use (presented in chronological order of qualification, as listed in the Annexes of D7566). These qualified fuels represent multiple conversion processes associated with various feedstock types.
The Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants, as well as their D02.J0 Sub-committee on Aviation Fuels, have also approved the co-processing of renewable content with crude oil-derived middle distillates in petroleum refineries. This includes:
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Co-processing of mono-, di-, and triglycerides, free fatty acids, and fatty acid esters
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Co-processing of hydrocarbons derived from synthesis gas via the Fischer-Tropsch process using iron or cobalt catalyst
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Co-processing of hydrocarbons derived from hydroprocessed mono-, di-, and triglycerides, free fatty acids, and fatty acid esters
The co-processing provisions have been added to Annex A1 of ASTM D1655, Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuels. The Annex includes co-processing of up to 5% by volume of these components as feedstocks in petroleum refinery processes. Note that the first of the co-processing approaches above is allowed up to 30% by volume under UK MoD Def Stan 91-091 standard specification
Current Fuels in the D4054
Qualification Process
The chart below shows the pathways actively pursuing certification at various stages in the process, as well as related task forces developing additional specifications for 100% drop-in and 100% non-drop-in fuels and D1655 coprocessing as of May 2025.
Pre-Qualification Process Fuels
CAAFI is aware of a significant number of additional prospective pathways that are currently being pursued by multiple entities but have yet to enter the ASTM Qualification Process. These approaches have the potential to convert the carbon or hydrocarbon content of various feedstocks using biological (fermentation or microbial conversion) or thermochemical (pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, catalytic conversion, etc.) processes into the chemical components of jet fuel. Early-stage producers often struggle to achieve the fuel production volume required for full ASTM testing. Therefore, researchers from the FAA-funded Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT) have developed a prescreening approach encompassing two tiers of preliminary, low-volume fuel testing, Tier and Tier , which can inform fuel producers in advance of the submission of a fuel to the ASTM D4054 process on the suitability of the candidate fuel as a jet fuel, the blend limits of the fuel, and other potential pitfalls. CAAFI’s Prescreening Guidance outlines the role of prescreening, targeted metrics, and properties tested.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Prescreening Tools and Procedures, outlines the benefits and procedures for prescreening Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) candidates before entering the official ASTM D4054 evaluation process. The process is demonstrated in the article with two exemplary candidate fuels.
Key Topics
Streamlining ASTM D4054
Qualification Process
There are several efforts underway to develop a more streamlined qualification process to increase process efficiency and decrease the amount of time and capital required to achieve certification. The fuel testing and evaluation goals of the Federal Alternative Jet Fuels Research and Development Strategy and the enabling end use goals of the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap focus on facilitating the qualification of additional SAF pathways by enabling the efficient evaluation of fuel-engine performance and safety through the advancement of certification and qualification processes and collection and analysis of data.
D4054 Clearinghouse Concept
FAA’s Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT), or Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels & Environment, funded the establishment of the D4054 Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse is intended to provide a “one-stop-shop” for the management of the testing and data review program for candidate SAF fuels. The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) is the project leader for this activity. UDRI is initially funded under ASCENT to support Phase 1 (Tier 1 and 2) testing and Phase 1 research report review of candidate SAFs. Support of Phase 2 (Tier 3 and 4) testing and final research report reviews will be contingent on the identification of other sources of funding or in-kind support. Two additional Clearinghouses have been established, one in the UK and the other in EU. Contact info@caafi.org to connect with the D4054 Clearinghouse Team.
D4054 Fast Track
A Fast Track provision has been incorporated as Annex A4 in ASTM D4054. The Fast Track provision permits a limited test protocol of only Tier 1 and other limited testing based on acceptable hydrocarbon bulk composition and trace material analyses. This abbreviated testing results in a new D7566 Annex for each new production concept, but is intended to avoid the need to conduct costly Tier 2, 3, and 4 testing, provided there are certain disclosures of process and management of change by producers. The blend percentage for each concept that goes through the D4054 Fast Track is limited to 10 percent and requires the blendstock to meet stringent specification criteria.
Alternative Jet Fuel Prescreening
The CAAFI R&D team, in collaboration with the University of Dayton Research Institute, has introduced the Prescreening Guidance for Alternative Jet Fuels document developed by the National Jet Fuels Combustion Program (NJFCP). These are intended to be early-stage, low-volume, low-cost, and rapid prescreening techniques outside the formal ASTM D4054 qualification and evaluation process, especially those that relate to the assessment of jet engine combustor operability, which are among the most expensive testing requirements of the evaluation process.
These prescreening methods can provide early-stage confidence to fuel developers on whether SAF formulations might encounter downstream challenges with the completion of the ASTM D4054 evaluation process. These methods do not replace the ASTM D4054 evaluation process and its requirements. However, results from prescreening should provide an early assessment of whether serious combustion issues could be encountered in the formal qualification process. This could help SAF developers make early decisions on SAF composition or production processes that could help facilitate later qualification, either for Fast-Track or Standard qualifications (see ASTM D4054 Standard Practice).
Alternative Jet Fuels Test Database (AJFTD)
Sponsored by the FAA under ASCENT (the Aviation Sustainability Center), the University of Illinois has developed an Alternative Jet Fuels Test Database (AJFTD), a technical library of alternative jet fuel reports and data. The database is in its first iteration, but as database development continues, all the data will be in a non-relational flexible format and will include analysis tools. Users can upload a fuel and see where it stands in comparison with the fuels already in the database. The database will also incorporate a linkage with the JETSCREEN database in Europe.
Access to the site is by invitation only, but prospective fuel producers may contact the University of Illinois to request access.
