NextChem awarded licensing, process-design package for SAF project in Indonesia
Maire announced Dec. 19 that its NextChem subsidiary has been awarded the licensing and the process-design package for a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant located in Sei Mangkei, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia.
According to Maire, this will be the first plant that will produce SAF with high efficiency, mainly from palm-oil mill effluent (POME) and including certified used cooking oil (UCO), enabling the full valorization of POME and UCO feedstock in the country and demonstrating the economic sustainability of small-scale plants.
This award follows the successful completion of the feasibility study announced in August for the joint development of a plant to produce SAF optimized for local feedstock availability.
The positive outcome demonstrated the viability of the SAF production facility, which is designed for domestic, locally sourced feedstock and located to fit feedstock logistics in Indonesia.
The 60,000-metric-ton-per-year (approximately 20 mgy) SAF production capacity could potentially account for approximately 5 percent of the fuel demand of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, the largest airport in Indonesia, confirming the fit of the domestic-scale concept.
Maire said NextChem offers a fully integrated package that combines both its NX PTU™ technology, the hydrogen-production unit and its NX SAFTM Bio technology, a proprietary HEFA (hydrotreated esters and fatty acids) process, for efficient SAF production.
This process uses second-generation vegetable oils and residual fats, which are pretreated through the NX PTU™ technology.
The purified feedstock is then refined into SAF using hydrogen through the NX SAFTM Bio technology, which allows to produce an ultra-low carbon SAF to reduce aviation emissions by up to 95 percent compared with the use of fossil fuels, according to Maire.
“The high level of standardization, coupled with a modular and compact design of the technology, allows a reduced project execution and makes it ideal for small-scale plants in any geography,” the company stated.
Maire CEO Alessandro Bernini added, “Decarbonizing high-impact sectors such as aviation requires not only technical expertise, but the courage to execute new avenues. This agreement demonstrates that Maire has the competence and determination to deploy innovative and integrated technological solutions that can be adapted to different contexts and needs.”
