Japan's Saffaire Sky Energy is set to start trial production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) this month and will begin supplying the clean jet fuel in April.
Saffaire Sky Energy, a joint venture between Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil, engineering firm JGC and biodiesel producer Revo Internatioal, plans to produce around 30,000 kilolitre/yr (517 b/d) of SAF at Cosmo's Sakai refinery in Osaka using domestic used cooking oil (UCO). Construction of the SAF plant was completed on 25 December, the companies announced on 10 January.
Under the project, Revo procures UCO which will be processed by Saffaire into neat SAF. Cosmo blends the neat SAF into fossil fuel-based jet fuel before supplying to airlines. Saffaire will also produce UCO-based bio-naphtha and biodiesel. JGE manages the overall supply chains.
Saffaire received the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification's (ISCC) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia) and the ISCC EU certificate in November 2024.
Demand for SAF, as well as UCO, is expected to continue rising, as the Japanese government has mandated that SAF should account for at least 10pc of domestic airlines' jet fuel consumption by 2030. It is also proposing to produce high-quality SAF to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from jet fuel use by more than 5pc by the April 2034-March 2035 fiscal year against 2019-20 levels.
The trade and industry ministry Meti last month allocated an initial budget of ¥27.8bn ($175.5mn) to support SAF production and its supply chain development for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which is slightly above the previous year's initial budget of ¥27.6bn.
