Last October 2021, Rolls-Royce and in partnership with Boeing and World Energy conducted a successful test flight on their own 747 Testbed aircraft using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel on a Trent 1000 Engine. The engine is used by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The test flight was flown from Tucson Airport in Arizona and flying over to New Mexico and Texas. They installed the Trent 1000 on the aircraft and fueled it with 100% SAF. While the remaining three engines were still powered by RB211 and ran on standard fuel. After 54 minutes of flying time, Engineers on board said that there were no engineering issues reported. This indicates that the sustainability of the fuel can be used for future commercial operations of gas turbine engines.
Rolls-Royce added that further that ground and air testing was also carried out on Trent XWB and Pearl engines. They also reported that by 2023, all RR Trent engines will be 100% compatible in SAF, to meet the aviation goals set by the UN Race to Zero
The engine developer and manufacturer also called attention to further collaborations across aviation sectors and the governments for the transition to zero net emissions.
Currently, only 50% maximum of SAF blended with conventional fuel are certified to operate. Rolls-Royce is supporting the certification of non-blended SAF to cut carbon emissions. It is also expensive to operate with SAF due to limited production.
Rolls-Royce collaborate with Boeing to provide technical support and oversight the modifications of the aircraft to make sure the aircraft systems would operate smoothly with 100% SAF. World Energy is the world’s first and America’s only commercial-scale SAF producer. They provided low-carbon fuel for test flights.
