Airport Carbon Supply Architecture for SAF
A Delta-ready owner-side architecture for evaluating terminal airflow, CHP, boiler, central utility plant CO₂ streams, airport energy systems, and regional enterprise sources as one managed carbon supply chain for future SAF and circular-carbon use.
Delta is not being asked to buy a device, fund a speculative fuel plant, or select a project developer. Delta is being asked to authorize Arns Innovations to architect the airport carbon supply pathway before capital, vendor, fuel-pathway, or operating-vehicle decisions are made.
Terminal HVAC keeps the airport-native narrative legible to travelers, airport partners, and Delta leadership.
Where present, point-source exhaust can materially exceed HVAC airflow as the first capture lane and first technical screening target.
Regional enterprise sources expand the model from one airport proof case into a repeatable SAF feedstock architecture.
Executive reading path for Delta leadership
This executive path presents the full airport carbon supply architecture: HVAC as the aviation-facing layer, CHP / boilers / central utility plant exhaust as higher-density capture opportunities where they exist, carbon supply rights as the commercial control layer, and regional SAF partners as the scale layer.
Opening thesis
Airport carbon supply architecture for SAF, with airflow as the visible layer and denser exhaust as the first screening lane.
Strategic thesis
Why airport-native carbon-to-SAF is an infrastructure opportunity for Delta, not a gadget.
Airflow reality
The direct-air-capture scale problem and why airports still matter.
Carbon supply sources
How CHP, boilers, CUP exhaust, HVAC, and regional assets fit into one source hierarchy.
Why Delta
Why Delta can help define the airport standard rather than only buy SAF.
Architecture
Six linked layers from source inventory through regional SAF routing.
Source math
CFM-normalized airflow math plus CHP and boiler screening math.
Integration hurdles
Pressure drop, heat, hydrogen, safety, MRV, and certification.
Phased program
A gated path from data room to pilot and repeatable airport standard.
Tech + economics
What can be scoped in a formal SOW, what must be validated, and where value compounds.
SAF pathways
Why PtL / eSAF is the airport-native endpoint versus HEFA, ATJ, or waste FT.
PtL route choice
Which conversion route best protects hydrogen, power, and jet-fuel yield.
Site sequence
How Delta hubs should be ranked by carbon-supply strength, not symbolism.
Defensibility
Why this becomes a repeatable airport infrastructure method with Arns as the architecture lead.
Rights & allocation
CO₂ ownership, SAF-feedstock allocation, MRV, reporting claims, and replication rights.
Arns role
Arns as owner-side architecture lead, with an optional operating layer only if Delta advances to deployment.
Decision path
The bounded 90-day Airport Carbon Supply Architecture mandate and go / no-go output.
Sources
Public references supporting the deck logic and screening model.
Airport-native carbon-to-SAF becomes more credible when Delta evaluates the full airport carbon stack, not terminal airflow alone.
For Delta, each selected hub can be evaluated as a multi-source carbon supply system where airflow, CHP, boilers, central utility plant exhaust, and nearby enterprise sources are ranked together as one airport-to-fuel architecture.
Airflow remains the visible airport-facing layer
- The terminal is not the refinery. The terminal is one carbon front end.
- Airport systems are valuable because they already move, condition, meter, and control large volumes of air.
- The architecture remains staged, financeable, and bounded by real airport safety, ASTM, utility, and siting constraints.
- Delta still gets the public-facing logic of Airflow to Air Fuel.
Denser airport sources strengthen the model
- HVAC is the visible, aviation-facing narrative layer.
- CHP, boilers, and central utility plant exhaust may be the first higher-density capture lanes where available.
- Regional partner assets can aggregate with the airport to expand SAF-feedstock scale.
- The result is an airport carbon supply architecture, not an HVAC-only DAC claim.
The airflow reality check is the reason this belongs at airports.
Atmospheric CO₂ is extremely dilute. That does not weaken the airport thesis. It clarifies it. The value is in using air movement, controls, and infrastructure that airports already operate instead of starting with new standalone fan fields.
Roughly 1.3 million cubic meters of air per ton of CO₂
At approximately 410 to 412 ppm CO₂, air holds about 0.75 grams of CO₂ per cubic meter. On a perfect-capture basis, that means roughly 1.3 million cubic meters of air must be processed for one metric ton of CO₂.
CleanTechnica frames this as about 1.1 Houston Astrodomes of air per metric ton of CO₂.
Delta does not need to build the airflow problem from scratch
- Airports already operate large air-handling systems, return-air loops, exhaust streams, central plants, and building automation.
- The technical work is to identify where denser exhaust streams and configured airflow can be captured without unacceptable pressure-drop, thermal, safety, or passenger-experience penalties.
- The strategic work is to connect measured CO₂ output to hydrogen, conversion, SAF logistics, and airline offtake.
- The result is a carbon feedstock node, not a standalone direct-air-capture farm.
- When CHP, boiler, or central utility plant exhaust exists, those streams may be ranked ahead of airflow-only capture as the first economic lane.
Airports are not only airflow assets. They are energy, thermal, exhaust, utility, and fuel-logistics systems.
The first mandate inventories and ranks all relevant airport CO₂ streams, including terminal return air, mixed air, CHP / cogeneration exhaust, boiler flue gas, central utility plant exhaust, fuel-cell exhaust where present, and nearby corporate or campus assets.
Start with the densest practical streams
- Tier 1: CHP / cogeneration exhaust. Largest, denser, and often more continuous where installed.
- Tier 2: Boiler and central-heating-plant exhaust. Potentially large, but more seasonal and load-dependent.
- Tier 3: Central utility plant exhaust and thermal-system interfaces, including heat-recovery and campus utility assets.
- Tier 4: HVAC terminal airflow. More dilute, but visible, scalable, and uniquely tied to the airport-air story.
- Tier 5: Nearby corporate or regional enterprise sources, including hotels, campuses, warehouses, stadiums, retail, and foodservice.
Existing airport CHP already points to material stack CO₂
- The CHP Alliance lists eight U.S. airport CHP systems totaling 167.7 MW and DOE-estimated remaining technical potential of 973 MW across U.S. airports.
- Using a natural-gas CHP screening model, the currently identified 167.7 MW implies roughly 566,000 tCO₂/yr of stack CO₂, or roughly 510,000 tCO₂/yr captured at a 90% capture assumption.
- The remaining 973 MW technical potential implies roughly 3.28 million tCO₂/yr of stack CO₂, or roughly 2.95 million tCO₂/yr captured at 90% capture.
- JFK is the clearest public proof case for airport CHP scale. ATL is a clear boiler-heavy proof case where nameplate heat-input capacity is already material.
Delta is not just a customer for SAF. Delta can help define how airports participate in SAF production.
The best first partner is not merely the airline that wants cleaner fuel. It is the airline with the hub density, operational credibility, fuel exposure, airport relationships, public visibility, and strategic pressure to turn a technical pathway into an infrastructure standard.
The updated model uses six linked layers so Delta can evaluate one airport as a complete carbon supply system.
The architecture begins with carbon-source inventory and ranking, not with a pre-selected technology bias toward HVAC alone. Capture and conversion remain staged and site-specific.
Airport carbon-source inventory
HVAC airflow, CHP, boilers, central utility plants, fuel-cell exhaust, foodservice demand, and nearby corporate assets are mapped into one source inventory.
Source ranking + capture-pathway selection
Point-source first where feasible, airflow where strategic and scalable, hybrid capture where the airport carbon stack supports it.
Capture + conditioning
Technology-agnostic capture, drying, polishing, compression, storage, quality control, and regeneration interfaces.
MRV + carbon accounting
Source-by-source measurement, energy inputs, lifecycle accounting, routing logic, chain of custody, and credit allocation.
Regional enterprise aggregation
Airport sources can connect with nearby hotels, campuses, warehouses, retail, stadiums, and other corporate assets where it improves economics.
SAF / circular-carbon pathway
Hydrogen, synthesis partner, ASTM-compliant fuel route, fuel logistics, or alternate carbon use where SAF is not yet the best first destination.
Inventory
Rank airport carbon streams, not just terminal air loops.
Select
Choose dense exhaust first where available, then expand into airflow.
Condition
Dry, polish, compress, buffer, and meter the resulting CO₂.
Measure
Apply MRV, lifecycle accounting, and allocation logic source by source.
Aggregate
Connect airport and regional enterprise sources when scale matters.
Route
Send carbon to the best SAF or circular-carbon pathway for that phase.
The model uses both airflow math and stack math. Airports are screened as carbon supply systems, not as HVAC alone.
Ambient-air capture remains important to the story. But public-source airport CHP and boiler data show that dense exhaust streams can materially exceed HVAC airflow as the first capture opportunity at selected hubs.
At roughly 420 ppm CO₂, a continuous 1 million CFM stream contains about 11,450 tCO₂/yr at perfect capture, or about 9,730 tCO₂/yr at an 85% capture assumption.
This makes HVAC strategically meaningful while also clarifying why dense stack streams can outrank airflow in Phase 1 when they exist.
Screening assumptions used here: 85% capacity factor, 40% electric efficiency, 90% capture rate, and EPA’s 53.06 kg CO₂/MMBtu natural-gas emission factor.
This is screening math, not final engineering. Actual values require fuel records, operating hours, heat rate, stack data, and capture design.
Approximate captured tCO₂ per year at 85% capture, using the ambient-air planning assumption above.
Approximate captured CO₂ from the 167.7 MW of publicly identified U.S. airport CHP capacity at 90% capture.
Approximate captured CO₂ implied by the CHP Alliance’s 973 MW U.S. airport technical-potential figure at 90% capture.
| Airport | Public source data | Modeled stack CO₂ / yr | Modeled captured CO₂ / yr | HVAC-airflow equivalence at 85% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JFK | 121.3 MW CHP | ~408,800 tCO₂ | ~367,900 tCO₂ | ~37.8 million CFM |
| DTW | 17.2 MW CHP | ~58,000 tCO₂ | ~52,200 tCO₂ | ~5.4 million CFM |
| LAX | 8.4 to 8.8 MW CHP | ~28,300 to 29,700 tCO₂ | ~25,500 to 26,700 tCO₂ | ~2.6 to 2.7 million CFM |
| MIA | 5.5 MW CHP | ~18,500 tCO₂ | ~16,700 tCO₂ | ~1.7 million CFM |
| SNA | 7.0 MW CHP | ~23,600 tCO₂ | ~21,200 tCO₂ | ~2.2 million CFM |
| BDL | 5.8 MW CHP | ~19,500 tCO₂ | ~17,600 tCO₂ | ~1.8 million CFM |
| ROC | 1.5 MW CHP | ~5,100 tCO₂ | ~4,600 tCO₂ | ~0.47 million CFM |
| SMF | 1.0 MW CHP | ~3,400 tCO₂ | ~3,000 tCO₂ | ~0.31 million CFM |
JFK is also useful because public permit materials show six hot-water generators totaling 315 MMBtu/hr by nameplate, while public annual heat-input tables indicate those boilers are intermittent and much smaller in practice than the airport’s CHP source. ATL provides the opposite lesson: public permit materials show major boiler capacity even without a public CHP proof point.
The hardest risks are real, which is why the program must be architected before it is bought.
A credible Delta program leads with the constraints: pressure drop, regeneration heat, airport safety, hydrogen access, land, fuel certification, and economic exposure. These are de-risked by architecture and site evidence, not by optimism.
Pressure drop and passenger environment
Capture must be designed around fan power, air quality, comfort, humidity, maintenance access, redundancy, and no degradation of terminal operations.
Thermal service and duty cycle
Sorbent regeneration requires heat or electrical input. The program must define where low-grade heat, electrified thermal loops, or dedicated regeneration skids make sense.
The real economic center of gravity
CO₂ capture creates feedstock. Hydrogen and clean electricity determine whether conversion to SAF is viable at the selected site or should be regionalized.
Safety, siting, permitting, and fuel logistics
Compression, storage, hydrogen, synthesis, and fuel handling introduce safety and permitting requirements that must be designed with airport, utility, and fuel partners.
Fuel qualification and blending pathway
The output must map to ASTM-governed pathways and credible fuel partners. A pilot can prove feedstock and architecture before claiming finished-fuel scale.
Traceable carbon and allocation logic
The system needs measurement, reporting, verification, chain-of-custody, and airline allocation logic from the first data-room phase.
A credible Delta pathway begins with architecture, then moves into pre-FEED, pilot, and repeatable standard.
This structure gives Delta useful knowledge at each gate and avoids forcing a capital decision before site data, partner readiness, and economics have been normalized.
Architecture mandate
Define the airport carbon-to-SAF boundary, data request, candidate sites, source-ranking logic, partner stack, rights framework, and initial go / no-go criteria.
Feasibility and pre-FEED
Map AHU and utility data, pressure-drop risks, capture options, parcel constraints, hydrogen access, SAF pathway, MRV, and airport approvals.
Pilot capture system
Install and operate a bounded capture and conditioning node to prove CO₂ output, energy penalty, operating reliability, MRV, and partner interfaces.
Airport standard
Convert the validated configuration into a repeatable hub template for Delta network expansion and airport-sector adoption.
Is the system real?
Validated airflow, capture factor, duty cycle, and operational feasibility.
Is the pathway viable?
Credible CO₂ conditioning, hydrogen, power, conversion, MRV, and fuel logistics.
Is the standard repeatable?
Clear economics, risk allocation, partner model, and hub-sequencing logic.
The first return is decision quality. The long-term return is a repeatable SAF infrastructure option.
This analysis does not pretend precision before the data room. It defines what can be scoped now, what must be learned on site, and where Delta’s option value compounds.
Value is phased, not overpromised
The dominant variables
- Fan-power penalty and pressure drop.
- Sorbent performance, lifetime, and regeneration energy.
- CO₂ purity, drying, compression, and storage.
- Clean electricity access and hydrogen production or procurement.
- Conversion pathway, fuel partner, certification, and blending logistics.
- MRV and chain-of-custody requirements.
PtL / eSAF is the airport-native route because it uses captured CO₂, hydrogen, and clean power rather than scarce biological feedstocks.
HEFA, ATJ, and biomass / waste FT all matter for near-term SAF supply. But if Delta wants an airport-linked fuel architecture built around captured terminal CO₂, PtL is the pathway that most directly fits the physics of the system.
Each pathway solves a different problem
The airport capture layer belongs in a CO₂-native fuel system
- Airport HVAC capture creates a measured CO₂ front end, not a waste-oil or ethanol feedstock stream.
- Delta can still procure HEFA or ATJ, but those pathways do not require airport airflow to exist.
- PtL is the only major SAF family whose core inputs directly match the airport-carbon architecture: captured CO₂, clean hydrogen, and low-carbon electricity.
- The strategic upside is long-term scale without land, crop-yield, or feedstock collection ceilings.
- The strategic constraint is economics, so the objective is hydrogen efficiency, power discipline, and kerosene yield rather than simply “making e-fuel.”
The winning PtL route is the one that maximizes certified kerosene per electron, kilogram of hydrogen, and ton of captured CO₂.
Once Delta chooses PtL as the destination pathway, the next question is not simply whether synthetic fuel can be made. The question is which route minimizes hydrogen waste, minimizes electricity burden, and maximizes ASTM-compatible jet output.
Technically viable, but least attractive on hydrogen efficiency
- Consumes hydrogen or methane-derived fuel for heat to drive reverse water-gas shift.
- Burns valuable hydrogen into water instead of preserving it for jet-fuel output.
- Creates the weakest economics when hydrogen is the dominant variable.
Most aligned with a premium airport PtL architecture
- Replaces combustion heating with electrified RWGS, avoiding direct hydrogen burn.
- Becomes more attractive when paired with recycle loops, heat integration, and high-value kerosene targeting.
- Best fit when Delta wants a system optimized around clean power, hydrogen discipline, and certified jet yield.
Important comparator, but watch carbon and hydrogen losses
- Can look simpler at first because methanol is a familiar intermediate.
- Carbon losses in methanol-to-olefins upgrading can reduce overall carbon and hydrogen efficiency.
- Needs to be judged by delivered jet-fuel yield, not by intermediate-product elegance.
Route selection criteria
- ASTM-certified kerosene yield per ton of captured CO₂.
- Hydrogen efficiency and effective electrolyzer burden.
- Total electricity intensity after recycle and heat integration.
- Ability to recycle light ends and avoid non-target product build-up.
- Partner bankability, operability, and pathway-certification maturity.
Use vendor claims as benchmarks, not assumptions
Topsoe argues that an integrated Fischer-Tropsch pathway with electrified RWGS, recycle, and SOEC-linked hydrogen can outperform combustion RWGS and methanol-to-jet on hydrogen and electricity efficiency. That is strategically useful guidance, and those performance figures are best treated as vendor-claimed benchmarks to diligence through independent techno-economic review.
The first site is best chosen by carbon-supply strength and authorization readiness, not by symbolism alone.
The screening question is no longer “Which airport has the biggest terminal?” It is “Which airport offers the best mix of dense CO₂ sources, visible aviation-facing airflow, utility readiness, hydrogen access, fuel-logistics fit, and partnerability?”
ATL
Delta’s flagship strategic supply hub
Public permit materials indicate major boiler capacity above the 250 MMBtu/hr threshold. Even without a public CHP proof case, ATL is a strong boiler-and-campus screening node.
DTW
Delta-relevant CHP proof source
Public CHP data point to roughly 17.2 MW of airport CHP, making DTW one of the clearest Delta-hub examples of dense point-source CO₂ already inside an airport context.
JFK
External proof benchmark
JFK’s 121.3 MW CHP system is the clearest public proof case that an airport can host material stack CO₂. It is less about Delta-hub primacy and more about proving the model is real.
LAX
Utility-plant benchmark
LAX combines public CHP references with a major central-utility-plant context, making it useful for utility-system and parcel-integration benchmarking.
SLC / MSP / SEA
Readiness screen
These hubs may still be excellent Phase 1 candidates if utility structure, clean-power access, or airport partnership conditions prove stronger than at more obvious symbolic sites.
The defensible value is in the system configuration, data model, and repeatable airport method.
For Delta leadership, this proposal is not a consulting memo or a single-device pitch. It is the first expression of a protected airport infrastructure method: a way to rank, configure, validate, and commercialize carbon-to-SAF supply architecture across airport assets.
Source-ranking logic
Method for ranking HVAC loops, CHP exhaust, boiler flue gas, central utility assets, gates, parcels, and regional partners by SAF-feedstock viability.
Airflow-to-carbon model
Standardized normalization of CFM, stack output, capture factor, uptime, pressure drop, regeneration energy, and CO₂ conditioning output.
Partner-stack orchestration
Repeatable configuration of airport, airline, utility, capture vendor, hydrogen provider, conversion partner, fuel logistics, and MRV roles.
MRV and allocation
Measured chain-of-custody logic for assigning captured carbon, SAF feedstock, credits, airline offtake, and reporting value.
Phased deployment gates
Decision architecture that moves from data room to pre-FEED to pilot system to airport standard without premature capital exposure.
Repeatable hub template
A transferable method for applying the architecture across Delta hubs and later across airports globally.
The hidden value is carbon supply rights, allocation, and control — not only capture hardware.
A Delta-led airport carbon supply architecture should define who can measure, route, allocate, claim, and commercialize captured CO₂ before Delta is locked into a vendor, fuel pathway, project developer, or capital structure.
Captured CO₂ ownership
Define who controls captured CO₂ at the source, after conditioning, during storage, and after routing.
Environmental attributes
Separate physical CO₂ custody from credits, reductions, book-and-claim logic, and sustainability reporting value.
SAF-feedstock allocation
Determine how captured airport carbon can be assigned to downstream PtL / eSAF pathways and fuel claims.
Delta offtake priority
Preserve Delta’s strategic access to fuel, attributes, data, and first-mover hub replication rights.
Airport + utility rights
Clarify airport, utility, landlord, energy-plant, and terminal-system participation before site work begins.
MRV chain of custody
Map measurement, reporting, verification, source attribution, energy inputs, and routing logic source by source.
Claims boundaries
Define what Delta, the airport, utilities, vendors, and fuel partners can safely claim, report, or market.
Regional participation
Set terms for hotels, campuses, warehouses, stadiums, retail, and foodservice sources that may aggregate with the hub.
Hub replication rights
Protect the repeatable template so one validated hub can become a Delta network architecture, not a one-off study.
Operating-vehicle trigger
Define when a future developer-operator or managed CO₂ services layer becomes useful — after architecture approval.
Arns Innovations is the owner-side architect. Carbon Recycling is only a potential future operating layer.
The immediate Delta decision is not vendor selection, conversion-plant commitment, or developer selection. It is a bounded owner-side mandate that turns scientific possibility into a buildable, partnerable, financeable, and decision-gated airport carbon supply program.
Arns Innovations as architecture lead
- Lead the Airport Carbon Supply Architecture and siting mandate.
- Inventory and rank airport CO₂ sources, parcels, utilities, rights, MRV requirements, and partner interfaces.
- Translate airport and fuel-system complexity into a bounded go / no-go decision for Delta leadership.
- Keep Delta in the owner-side position while technical, commercial, and operating options are clarified.
Carbon Recycling only if Delta elects deployment
- Carbon Recycling is not the current ask. It is a potential future deployment vehicle.
- If Delta moves beyond architecture, Carbon Recycling can serve as a tech-agnostic developer-operator of managed CO₂ infrastructure.
- That layer could manage site onboarding, capture-vendor coordination, MRV, CO₂ aggregation, routing, and recurring service operations.
- Any operating layer follows the approved Arns architecture rather than leading the proposal.
Next step for Delta: authorize a 90-day Airport Carbon Supply Architecture mandate for one Delta-selected hub.
This mandate determines whether terminal HVAC airflow, CHP / boiler / central utility plant exhaust, airport energy infrastructure, nearby enterprise sources, hydrogen supply, carbon allocation rights, and downstream fuel-conversion partners can be structured into a defensible airport-native carbon-to-fuel pathway with a clear go / no-go output.
Gather the full airport carbon stack
Secure candidate terminal, AHU, central utility plant, CHP, boiler, turbine, fuel-cell, exhaust-stack, thermal-loop, utility, parcel, airport-partner, rights, and fuel-logistics information.
Rank the best CO₂ streams first
Screen dense stack sources, visible airflow sources, utility interfaces, parcel options, hydrogen access, SAF-partner fit, and carbon supply rights inside one architecture model.
Define the architecture boundary
Produce a site-specific concept basis, capture-pathway logic, preliminary MRV structure, carbon allocation framework, partner map, and phased implementation path without overcommitting to one technology too early.
Deliver a bounded Delta decision
Provide a clear recommendation on pre-FEED, partner diligence, pilot structuring, operating-vehicle design, or a no-go based on real airport and market conditions.
Authorization language
Authorize Arns Innovations to lead a 90-day Airport Carbon Supply Architecture mandate for one Delta-selected hub. The output is a decision-grade architecture package, source-ranking model, partner stack, rights and allocation framework, and go / no-go recommendation. If Delta elects to proceed, Arns can then prepare a formal SOW for pre-FEED, pilot structuring, and/or operating-vehicle design.
Primary references informing the updated deck
The core update is the carbon-source broadening and rights-allocation layer: ambient-air and HVAC math stay in the story, public-source CHP, boiler, and utility data strengthen the airport model, and Arns defines the owner-side architecture before deployment commitments are made.