Jet Zero advances development of proposed Australian SAF plant
Jet Zero Australia Pty. Ltd. (Jet Zero) has moved into the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase for its planned Project Ulysses, a grassroots development involving construction of a renewable fuels plant in the Townsville State Development Area of North Queensland, Australia (OGJ Online, Dec. 23, 2024).
Following preliminary agreements in December 2024, Jet Zero in April finalized award of a contract to Technip Energies (T.EN) for delivery of FEED services on the project that, if completed, will be equipped to produce 102 million l./year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and 11 million l./year of renewable diesel from a feedstock of Australian bioethanol, Jet Zero and T.EN said in separate releases.
T.EN’s scope of work under the contract covers an extensive package of engineering activities, documentation, and planning, all aimed at refining a cost estimate and detailed timelines for the project, the service provider said on Apr. 16.
Alongside the FEED contract award, Jet Zero also confirmed continuance of an engineering services contract with Melbourne-based Long Energy and Resources (Aust) Pty. Ltd. (LERA), which will provide specialist project management and owner engineering services to assure FEED engineering is delivered to Jet Zero’s design philosophy and in compliance with the FEED contract.
Award of the T.EN and LERA contracts—each of which are anticipated to run for several months—to complete Project Ulysses’ estimated $36.8-million (Aus.; $22.1-million) FEED program was made possible through crucial funding support from Jet Zero’s investors and industry partners, the operator said.
External partners supporting the project include aviation affiliates Airbus SE and Qantas Airways Ltd., as well as Japanese petroleum producer and refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd.
Financial support for Project Ulysses also came from the government of Australia via Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) Advancing Renewables Program and the Queensland government’s Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, which together awarded Jet Zero a combined $14 million (Aus.) in late 2024 to help take project development through the FEED stage into final investment decision (FID), Jet Zero said in a release dated Oct. 9, 2024.
Additional project details
Slated to become Australia’s first alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) low-carbon liquid fuels production (LCLF) plant by its targeted startup in late 2027 or early 2028, Project Ulysses will use LanzaJet Inc.’s proprietary ATJ technology that incorporates T.EN’s patented Hummingbird technology for converting a feedstock of Australian bioethanol to ethylene, the latter of which will subsequently be transformed—using LanzaJet’s oligomerization and hydrogenation technology—into SAF and renewable diesel, according to Jet Zero and ARENA.
An official project description from ARENA indicated the FEED study for Project Ulysses is due for completion by Jan. 1, 2026.
Should Jet Zero take positive FID on the development, Project Ulysses will be operated by Ulysses Bioenergy Pty. Ltd., a private operating entity registered with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission on Oct. 8, 2024, according to the regulator’s website.
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
