Biomass carbon removal can help sustainable aviation fuels achieve on-time arrival

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004226013313

Authors: Matthew Langholtz, Charlotte Levy, John Field, Daniel L. Sanchez et al.

22 May 2026

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115956

Summary

Biofuels, including sustainable aviation and marine fuels, and biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) are often viewed as potentially competing pathways for advancing climate and energy goals. Their comparative economic, environmental, and temporal advantages remain debated. Rather than identifying a “best-use” for biomass, we show that the relative economic advantages of BiCRS versus biofuels exist along a continuum shaped by energy- and decarbonization-focused market conditions. These pathways need not be adversarial: BiCRS can enable, rather than displace, future biofuel deployment. While the lignocellulosic biofuel sector continues to face barriers associated with underdeveloped supply chains and technologies that have not yet been commercialized at scale, emerging BiCRS approaches are comparatively feedstock-flexible, rapidly deployable, and responsive to carbon removal markets. Early BiCRS deployment can help establish reliable biomass supply chains, reducing investment risk for future lignocellulosic biorefineries. By easing initial supply chain constraints, BiCRS can serve as a practical stepping stone toward meeting both near-term carbon removal needs and long-term sustainable fuel objectives under uncertain future market and policy conditions.

Source: ScienceDirect