J-Oil Mills demonstrates crushing, hydrotreating Calophyllum hawthorn seeds

J-Oil Mills Inc. announced in October that, as part of its demonstration research to build and expand a supply-chain model for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using vegetable oils that do not compete with food, the company has succeeded in producing oil containing SAF components from the seeds of the nonedible plant Calophyllum innocense.

The work is part of Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) public-offering project, “Development of Biojet Fuel Production Technology Project/Building a Supply Chain Model through Demonstration” since 2022.

The company exhibited at the NEDO booth at BioJapan 2024, held at Pacifico Yokohama Oct. 9-11 and presented the results of this research.

“Using the knowledge and technology we have cultivated in the manufacture of edible vegetable oils, we are conducting research into using nonedible plants that do not compete with food as SAF raw materials, and in addition to pongamia, which has already attracted attention as an SAF raw material, we have also been researching Calophylla inocula,” J-Oil Mills stated. “Calophylla inocula is a subtropical plant found in Okinawa Prefecture in Japan and in Southeast Asia overseas, and in Okinawa it is mainly used as a roadside tree and windbreak.”

Calophyllum hawthorn has a high oil content of 40 percent to 50 percent in its ovules, according to J-Oil Mills.

The crop can be cultivated on land that is not suitable for farming, such as dry areas or land with high salinity, and there is little competition with farmland used for food.

“We have recently succeeded in squeezing, refining and hydrogenating Calophyllum hawthorn seeds to produce oil containing SAF components,” the company said.

“Going forward, we will work to collaborate with organizations that have SAF technology, aiming to have SAF conform to the ASTM standard and to have it registered as a CORSIA-eligible fuel, an environmental certification. We will also continue our efforts to secure raw materials from nonedible plants, including conducting small-scale cultivation demonstration tests.”