Emirates completes ground testing for fully Sustainable Aviation Fuel engine

Emirates completes ground testing for fully Sustainable Aviation Fuel engine

DUBAI: Emirates has successfully completed the ground engine testing for one of its GE90 engines on a Boeing 777-300ER using fully Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

The objective of the ground testing and analysis is to demonstrate the capability of the GE90 engine to fully run on the specially blended SAF without affecting its performance, requiring no modifications to the aircraft systems, or special maintenance procedures on the Boeing 777-300ER or GE90 engine to operate.

SAF reduces carbon emissions over the fuel’s life cycle by up to 80 percent.

The ground test results will now pave the way for the airline’s first experimental test flight fully using SAF in one engine, which is due for take-off this week. The testing activities involved fully running one engine on SAF and the other on conventional jet fuel to better analyse the fuel system's behaviour and performance under each fuel type, compare specific outputs of each engine, and ensure seamless operation of the aircraft’s engine and airframe fuel systems during the planned test flight.

During the ground testing at the state-of-the-art Emirates Engineering Centre in Dubai, the aircraft first went through its standard pre-inspection activities. After that, the stationary operating testing began by first running the Honeywell 331-500