Jet Zero gets $9.6mn in grants for Australia SAF plant

Australian bioenergy developer Jet Zero gets A$14mn ($9.6mn) of grants from federal and state governments for its proposed Project Ulysses, a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in the northern Queensland state city of Townsville.

The joint funding consists of A$9mn from the federal Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) and A$5mn from Queensland's state government to develop the local production plant and build SAF value chains.

Project Ulysses plans to utilise agricultural by-products to manufacture 102mn litres/yr of SAF and 11mn l/yr renewable diesel. Jet Zero will use the funds to complete front-end engineering and design of the plant and progress commercial deployment of alcohol-to-jet (AtJ) SAF technology.

Jet Zero in February signed a licence and engineering agreement to use US sustainable fuels company LanzaJet's AtJ technology which converts bioethanol into SAF and renewable diesel.

The funding complements an A$30mn investment by project partners Qantas, Airbus and Idemitsu Kosan, Jet Zero said on 27 September.

The transport sector accounts for about one fifth of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions but scheduled closure of coal-fired electricity generators means it could be the largest source by 2030, as Canberra turns its attention to decarbonising the industry via a certification scheme for low-carbon liquid fuels..

By Tom Major