Idemitsu Kosan advances SAF project for Tokuyama petrochemical complex

Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. has let a contract to Chiyoda Corp. to provide essential engineering works for the operator’s proposal to build a grassroots plant for production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its Tokuyama petrochemical complex in Shunan, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.

As part of the Dec. 20 contract, Chiyoda will deliver front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the new plant that will use the hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology process to produce 250,000 kl/year of SAF following its scheduled startup in 2028, the service provider said.

Without disclosing further details regarding the order, Chiyoda and Idemitsu Kosan separately confirmed the FEED contract award follows completion of a feasibility study for the proposed SAF plant in August 2023.

The Tokuyama renewables plant—which will use the HEFA process to hydrotreat a feedstock of biogenic waste materials such as waste cooking oil, tallow, soybean oil, and, in the future, oilseed plants such as pongamia, to produce SAF—comes as part of the operator’s broader goal of supplying 500,000 kl/year of SAF to support the shared goal of Japan’s government and aviation industry to replace 10% of fuel consumption by Japanese airlines with SAF by 2030, Idemitsu Kosan said in an August 2023 release.

In addition to the planned Tokuyama SAF plant, Idemitsu Kosan—supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO) Green Innovation Fund—to use the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology process based specifically on a feedstock of ethanol and other materials (e.g., isobutanol intermediate) for production of 100,000 kl/year of SAF by 2030 at the operator’s 190,000-b/d integrated Chiba refinery and petrochemical complex in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, the company said in separate releases in August 2023 and April 2022.

Idemitsu Kosan said the remaining 150,000 kl/year of SAF the company plans to supply the Japanese market with by 2030 will be supplied via the operator’s participation in overseas projects.

Overseas SAF partnership

In a March 2024 release, Idemitsu Kosan confirmed its entrance a first overseas SAF production collaboration with Jet Zero Australia Pty. Ltd., which is developing the PJ Ulysses project in the Townsville State Development Area of North Queensland, Australia, according to Jet Zero Australia’s website.

On Dec. 18, Jet Zero Australia confirmed its award of a contract to Technip Energies (T.EN) to deliver FEED for Project Ulysses, which will be equipped with LanzaJet Inc.’s proprietary ATJ technology that will incorporate 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 102 million l./year and 11 million l./year of renewable diesel, according to the companies.

While the parties have yet to reveal a precise commissioning date for Project Ulysses, the plant—once online—is slated to supply one-sixth of the Australian domestic airline industry’s entire 2030 SAF commitment, according to Jet Zero Australia’s official project description.