Queensland government allocates $1.5 million to support SAF projects, proposals

Australia's Queensland state has earmarked A$1.5 million ($980,000) to support two new sustainable aviation fuel proposals while also backing a multiseed crushing and processing facility, it said July 29.

The government's Industry Partnership Program will contribute to grains processing company Energreen Nutrition Australia's multiseed crushing and processing facility near central Queensland, it said in the statement.

The facility would have the capacity to process 70,000 mt/year of feedstock, including pongamia oil production -- a potential SAF feedstock.

Queensland will also grant private-sector domestic company Wagner Sustainable Fuels and Australian-owned energy company Liquid Power A$760,000 each for feasibility studies to help develop the case for investment in their own SAF proposals.

Wagner announced in April a partnership with aircraft manufacturer Boeing Australia to develop a SAF blending facility at the Wellcamp Airport near the inland city of Toowoomba, Queensland.

Moreover, Australia's largest airline Qantas has a target of using 10% SAF by 2030, which is estimated to be around 10,000 b/d.

Queensland is recognized internationally as one of the best locations to establish an Australasian SAF supply chain because it already produces significant SAF feedstock, including agricultural waste, and has multiple government-backed projects.

Bioenergy developer Jet Zero Australia's Ulysses alcohol-to-jet SAF facility in North Queensland has emerged as frontrunner for the first SAF project in Australia with its planned 102 million l/year plant in Townsville, Queensland, where significant feedstock supplies are located.

Project Ulysses is targeting an annual production of 102 million liters of SAF and 11 million liters/year of renewable diesel once operational.

The project has support of Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan along with Qantas and aircraft manufacturer Airbus, with a joint investment of A$29 million ($19.2 million) announced earlier this year.

Speaking to S&P Global Commodity Insights earlier this month, CEO of Jet Zero Australia Ed Mason highlighted that scalable agricultural feedstock bases in Australia, alongside a robust infrastructure near the Eastern Seaboard, present export opportunities.

Townsville's infrastructure investments in renewable fuels provide essential resources like renewable power, feedstocks and hydrogen crucial for SAF production via the ATJ process, he said.

The Queensland government supported Jet Zero's feasibility study for this biorefinery with $760,000 in funding, according to the Minister for State Development and Infrastructure Grace Grace.

Additionally, the state government is collaborating with Ampol to evaluate the production of renewable diesel and SAF at its Lytton refinery in Brisbane.

SAF is expected to account for 0.61% of global aviation fuel consumption in 2024, up from 0.31% in 2023. This is expected to rise to 3.24% in 2040 and 24.06% in 2050, from 20,000 b/d in 2023, according to data from Commodity Insights.

Platts, part of Commodity Insights, assessed SAF production costs (palm fatty acid distillate) in Southeast Asia at $1,603.81/mt on July 29, increasing $7.65/mt from the previous assessment.