Sumitomo Heavy starts pilot gasification unit for SAF push

Sumitomo Heavy Industries has begun trial operation of a new gasification pilot test facility at its Niihama plant in Ehime Prefecture, positioning the company to further develop sustainable aviation fuel and biomethanol as Japan pushes to decarbonize its aviation and energy sectors, the company said in a statement.

The facility will enable Sumitomo Heavy to conduct gasification demonstrations and verify optimal processing methods for a range of raw materials supplied by customers, supporting their business feasibility studies and decisions on equipment introduction, according to the company on Aug. 24.

The pilot unit has a raw material processing capacity of 2.4 mt/day and can handle various biomass and recycled materials using air, oxygen or steam as gasifying agents, Sumitomo said.

Technology rollout

The Niihama facility employs a fluidized-bed gasifier, a furnace design that suspends a medium, such as sand, in air or steam to enable efficient chemical reactions with the raw material, according to Sumitomo.

The company has built its proprietary gasification technology on decades of experience with circulating fluidized-bed and bubbling fluidized-bed combustion systems, which it has supplied primarily in Europe since the 1980s, the company said.

Through the pilot facility, Sumitomo Heavy plans to accumulate data on the gasification characteristics of a wide range of raw materials and the quality of the resulting synthesis gas, according to the company.

That data will feed into proposals for optimal equipment configurations tailored to individual customers' business plans, Sumitomo Heavy said, adding that it aims to contribute to sustainable fuel and chemical production through the effort.

"We will accelerate our expansion into the bio-liquid fuel field, including biomethanol and SAF, for which demand is expected to grow," the company said, adding that it intends to build a sustainable fuel production system centered on fluidized-bed gasification technology to contribute to stable energy supply and a decarbonized society.

Competitive field

The move places Sumitomo Heavy in direct competition with other Japanese heavy industry groups racing to commercialize gasification-based routes to low-carbon fuels.

The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group has completed technical verification of a fluidized-bed gasification reforming system that converts general waste into ethanol raw material and is strengthening efforts toward practical application.

Also, IHI Corp. is separately promoting the development of ammonia fuel and SAF-related technologies.

The push into gasification-derived biofuels comes as global feedstock competition intensifies for SAF production, with technology providers pursuing multiple pathways including hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids from used cooking oil, alcohol-to-jet conversion from ethanol, and gasification-based synthesis routes such as the one Sumitomo is testing, potentially widening the range of feedstocks including woody biomass and recycled materials that could be drawn into aviation fuel supply chains in the coming years.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed sustainable aviation fuel HEFA-SPK FOB Straits at $2,497.25/mt on Aug. 24, up 25 cents/mt from Aug. 21