Japan’s Idemitsu eyes SAF production from pongamia oil

Argus media

By Maiko Nakashima

Japanese refiner Idemitsu will explore sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production from pongamia oil in Australia, with support from Australia's Queensland state government.

Idemitsu signed an agreement on 8 March with Japanese cooking oil producer J-Oil Mills and Australian non-profit organisation Burnett Mary Regional, to jointly explore SAF output using pongamia oil. Pongamia is a non-edible oil feedstock with a high oil yield that could contribute to stable SAF supply without competing with food crops, Idemitsu said.

The exact amount of SAF that the firms are targeting to produce is unclear for now.

The companies will start with small-scale cultivation of pongamia trees in Queensland in 2023, with support from the Queensland government. Further details were undisclosed, but hundreds of hectares (ha) of land will be used for pongamia plantation after the small-scale trial. Around 2t of SAF is expected to be produced from 1 ha of pongamia, Idemitsu said.

This came following an initial agreement signed on 31 January between Idemitsu and J-Oil Mills to explore a biomass business, including SAF production from non-edible feedstocks, recycled plastic and biochemical products.

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