Japanese biodiesel producer Revo International has launched a plant in the Aichi prefecture, central Japan, to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and biodiesel.
This is the company's first SAF plant but its second biodiesel plant, Revo said. The firm already has a biodiesel plant in Kyoto, western Japan.
Revo held an opening ceremony at the Aichi plant on 18 April. The plant has a production capacity of 30,000 litres/d for biodiesel, and can process 600 l/d of used cooking oil (UCO) as feedstock to make SAF.
The plant can produce SAF at low pressure and temperature, Revo's president Tetsuya Koshikawa said at the ceremony. This helps to save energy consumption during SAF production, which results in a lower production cost, the firm explains.
Revo hopes to supply the produced SAF to planes at Chubu International Airport, near the Aichi plant. The company has applied for international certifications on SAF including the UN's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards, and expects to be certified in the 2025 fiscal year starting from April.
Revo also joined Japan's first large-scale domestic SAF production venture Saffaire Sky Energy, jointly funded by Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil, engineering firm JGC and Revo. Saffaire has a SAF plant at Cosmo's Sakai refinery, Osaka, and started delivering its SAF in this April. In the venture, Revo takes charge of collecting UCO as feedstock for SAF.
The companies have announced the plans to start delivering Saffaire's SAF to domestic airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA), the US' Delta Air Lines, Finnish airline Finnair and German logistics group DHL Express in the 2025 fiscal year.
Cosmo group will also deliver Saffaire's SAF to Taiwanese airline Starlux Airlines in the 2025 fiscal year at Kobe airport, western Japan, Cosmo and JGC announced on 18 April.
