In North Sumatra, a province of Indonesia, the construction of a facility for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been announced, which could improve the environmental performance of the aviation industry. NextChem’s project, based on the utilization of local biowaste and used edible oils, aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 95 percent compared to conventional jet fuels.
The new facility is expected to produce around 60,000 tons of SAF annually. This could provide approximately five percent of the annual demand for jet fuel at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, which is located near Jakarta and is Indonesia’s largest airport. Waste material from palm oil production, as well as used edible oil collected locally, will be used as key raw materials. In addition to reducing the amount of waste in this way, the project encourages a circular economy, because materials that would otherwise be thrown away now gain new value.
The company is implementing a similar project in Kazakhstan, while in the United States a license agreement was signed with a company from Louisiana to start a plant that could annually produce as much as 450 million liters of SAF. It is planned that this facility will be operational in 2028.
According to the latest data published by Platts, the price of sustainable jet fuel in Southeast Asia is just over $1,800 per ton.
A recent analysis of 77 airlines by Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that only 10 are actively looking for sustainable alternatives, such as e-kerosene and biofuels derived from waste. The remaining companies are either not considering SAF as a possibility, or are using the wrong type, or are using it too little. In fact, as the report points out, the world is far from widespread acceptance of SAF. In 2023, airlines used only 2.6 million barrels of SAF compared to more than 1.6 billion barrels of regular kerosene, representing less than 0.15 percent of total fuel consumption.
Energy portal
Source: energetskiportal.rs
