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China biofuel makers bet on sustainable air travel fuel

Biofuel companies are putting more than $1 billion into structure China's first plants to turn waste cooking oil into air travel fuel for export and meet domestic demand, when Beijing mandates the fuel's use on aircrafts to cut emissions.

Here are details of the investors. Capability figures describe feedstock volumes, with SAF yield estimated at 50% to 60%.

Junheng Industry Group Biotechnology Co Ltd

It started producing first SAF last December at a 400,000 tpy plant in the central city of Puyang at an expense of 1.3 billion yuan ($ 180 million), ending up being the 2nd SAF maker to win airworthiness certification from domestic civil aviation authorities after Sinopec's Zhenhai.

It plans output of 150,000 metric tons of SAF this year, following its first export last December to Europe.

Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech Co

Establish in 2003 as a manufacturer of bio-based plasticizer, Jiaao became a biodiesel producer and exporter around 2016. As one of China's largest biodiesel producers, it counts worldwide oil majors Shell, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies among its customers.

In 2022 it chose to enter the SAF business and is building a 500,000 tpy plant costing 4 billion yuan in the port city of Lianyungang, with strategies to broaden to one million tpy. The government of Lianyungang owns a 30% stake in the endeavor.

Tianzhou New Energy

The group is set to start up a 200,000-tpy SAF center towards the end of 2024 at a cost of one billion yuan in Weiyuan in the southwestern province of Sichuan, with plans to expand it to 500,000 tpy.

The company started as an aviation fuel manufacturer and has long worked with China National Air Travel Fuel Corp.

. Sichuan Jinshang Environmental Management Tech Co Ltd

A collector of utilized cooking oil (UCO) given that 2012, Jinshang started exporting UCO in 2015 to Europe, varying from 200,000 to 300,000 tons a year to business such as Neste, EcoCeres, Shell and PetroChina. It plans to begin building a 400,000-tpy SAF plant in Sichuan in July targeted for conclusion by end-2025, at a cost of more than 1 billion yuan.

Shandong Haike Chemical Co Ltd

The independent oil refiner based in the eastern province of Shandong strategies to revamp an existing refining system into a. 500,000-tpy SAF manufacturer by the end of this year.

Sinopec Zhenhai

China's very first SAF maker, Sinopec Corp won certification in. 2022 from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), the. world's most extensive standard for sustainable fuels, for its. trial SAF production from a 100,000-tpy facility.

Nevertheless, the center in eastern Zhejiang province has not. entered industrial production.

Qinzhou Hongkun

Begun as a lube manufacturer, the business prepares to develop. a 300,000-tpy SAF plant in Qinzhou in the southern province of. Guangxi, at a cost of 1.68 billion yuan. Sinchuan Jinshang owns. a 20% stake of the plant, set to launch in the first quarter. of 2026.

State Power Investment Corp (SPIC)

Last December, SPIC announced a plan to invest 42 billion. yuan in northeast China to produce fuel from hydrogen derived. from wind power.

The jobs, to be built in the city of Qiqihar in. northeastern Heilongjiang province, include a 3.5 gigawatt wind. power plant, a 164,000 tpy hydrogen-making facility and two. 400,000 tpy plants, one each to make SAF and methanol.

SPIC will initially develop a 10,000-tpy pilot plant making SAF. from wind power-based hydrogen, applying technology from Tsing. Energy Advancement Co, the first plant of its kind in China.

(source: Reuters)