SAF is soarin’: Neste, Shell, World Energy, Itochu, Aemetis, Vertimass making advances as capacity is set to ramp

February is here and already is it looking like SAFbruary — announcements are flying around and the world is gearing up for a major ramp-up in capacity,. Big players with access to affordable capital, too — making the limiting barriers more about affordable feedstock and a drive to squeeze every point out of the Carbon Intensity by strategic siting of projects.

Netse and Itochu in Japan

From Japan, news arrived that Neste and ITOCHU expanded their partnership to grow the availability of sustainable aviation fuel  in Japan. In the expanded partnership, ITOCHU acts as the branded distributor of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel in Japan making Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel available first at the two largest Japanese international airports; Tokyo Haneda and Narita.

Already in 2020, Neste, ITOCHU and All Nippon Airways started cooperating, establishing a SAF supply chain in Japan enabling Neste’s first SAF delivery into Asia to take place in Japan. Through their expanded partnership, Neste and ITOCHU are able to support other domestic and international airlines as well as other fuel suppliers at Haneda and Narita International Airports, going forward.

Recently, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan submitted a roadmap to the Study Group on CO2 reduction from aircraft, recommending a target of replacing 10 percent of jet fuels consumed by Japanese airlines by 2030 with SAF. Neste and ITOCHU are committed to supporting the aviation industry’s and Japan’s climate emission reduction targets and contribute to reaching them with the partnership.

Aemetis, Universal Biofuels in India

Over in India, Aemetis’ Universal Biofuels subsidiary in Kakinada, India has agreed to acquire a site to construct a tallow oil refining facility.  The refining facility is designed to supply feedstock to the existing Aemetis 50 million gallon per year biodiesel plant located on the East Coast of India and provide future feedstock supply to the Aemetis 90 million gallon sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant being built in Riverbank, California.

In addition to the feedstock pretreatment unit already operational at the Aemetis biodiesel plant in Kakinada, the new feedstock refining facility will expand the range of feedstocks that can be used for biodiesel, SAF and RD production to include crude tallow oil. Recent regulations adopted by the Indian Government encourage oil refiners and fuel distributors to purchase biodiesel for blending into petroleum diesel. The new feedstock refining facility will expand access to India renewable oil feedstock for existing and future Aemetis renewable fuels plants in India and California.

Aemetis built, owns and operates the Kakinada biodiesel plant with an installed capacity of 150,000 metric tonnes per year, equal to about 50 million gallons of biodiesel production annually. The Aemetis Kakinada plant is one of the largest biodiesel production facilities in India and is capable of processing a variety of vegetable oils, animal oils, and waste oil feedstocks into biodiesel that meet international product standards.

Vertimass and World Energy in the US

Not to be outdone, in the United States, Vertimass and World Energy inked a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the development and application of Vertimass Technologies to produce renewable fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel. World Energy is exploring integrating Vertimass’ proprietary alcohol to renewable fuel technologies for the production of SAF, biomass-based diesel, green gasoline, renewable naphtha, and other renewable fuel products.

Through the agreement, the two companies will jointly develop projects to convert alcohols into hydrocarbon fuels using Vertimass’ technology. World Energy may subsequently license Vertimass technology for commercial production.

Vertimass’ technology sustainably produces vital fuels and chemicals from methanol, ethanol, and other renewable alcohols with high yields that can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to sourcing these products from petroleum. The simplicity of this single reaction stage results in low capital and operating costs. The technology originated from Oak Ridge National Laboratories operated by UT-Battelle, with Vertimass obtaining worldwide exclusive rights in 2014.

Vertimass technology for producing jet fuel and chemicals from methanol derived from carbon dioxide offers ethanol producers, electrical power generation facilities, cement producers, and other sources of carbon dioxide release the ability to reduce greenhouse gas footprints.

Shell in Singapore

And back to Asia, Shell has become the first supplier of sustainable aviation fuel to customers in Singapore, and has completed the upgrading of its facility in Singapore which will enable blending of SAF in Singapore. SAF is approved for use in aircraft operating today only when blended in a ratio of up to 50% with conventional jet fuel.1 Having a blending facility in the region enables a more efficient operation by moving neat SAF in bulk from production sources to the blending facility and then delivering blended SAF parcels to where it is needed.

The SAF supplied is made from waste products and sustainable feedstocks and will be blended with conventional jet fuel. The first batch of SAF is blended in Europe and aims to test and verify the supply chain for SAF that Shell has established in Asia. Shell seeks to commence blending at its Singapore facilities for subsequent batches.The SAF is being supplied by Shell Aviation, as part of Shell Aviation’s SAF supply agreement with Neste.

Building supply chain capabilities to blend, handle and distribute SAF is critical in enabling more customers access to SAF, allowing us to help quicken the pace of decarbonizing the aviation sector. In its neat form, SAF can reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional fuel.2

Shell has announced its ambition to produce around 2 million tonnes of SAF a year by 2025 globally. To support this, Shell outlined plans for a biofuels facility, subject to final investment decision, at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore. The facility has the ability to produce 550,000 tonnes of low-carbon fuels a year, including SAF.

The Bottom Line

There you have it — East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the United States. Action all around the world this week. With news that REG is ramping up biodiesel production in its German subsidiaries, the ramp-up in heavy-duty transport fuels is as unmistakable as it is welcome.