Preliminary techno-economic and environmental screening of a sustainable aviation fuel pathway from Chilean forestry residues via Pinus radiata gasification and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

Forest residues from the Chilean sawmill industry are a potential feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF),although their availability and process performance constrain their contribution to national fuel demand. This study presents a screening-level assessment of a biomass-to-liquid pathway based on Pinus radiata gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis, integrating technical, economic, and environmental perspectives. Gasification was described with a non-stoichiometric equilibrium model based on Gibbs free-energy minimization, whereas the FT stage was treated as a thermodynamic limiting case to investigate chemical and vapour–liquid equilibrium rather than catalyst-dependent selectivity. Gasification calculations showed that the equivalence ratio (ER) and moisture content strongly affect syngas composition and lower heating value, with ER ≈ 0.32 and moisture of 10–15% defining a favorable thermodynamic screening region. The FT phase-partitioning analysis indicated that increasing pressure and decreasing temperature favor the calculated partitioning of C5+ hydrocarbons into the liquid phase within the idealized model. The preliminary economic assessment was strongly sensitive to plant capacity, cold-gas efficiency (CGE), and assumed SAF selling-price scenarios of 1.44–1.84 USD L −1 . A scenario-based environmental assessment indicated that, assuming a 70% CO 2 -equivalent reduction factor for neat SAF relative to Jet A-1, a 50% SAF blend corresponds to an approximately 35% reduction in the reference-flight emission. However, the estimated SAF production from currently unallocated sawmill by-products would represent less than 0.1% of Chilean aviation-fuel demand.The main value of this pathway therefore lies not in supplying national SAF demand independently, but in valorizing forestry residues and supporting the development of biomass-to-liquid conversion technologies in Chile.