Praj’s sustainable aviation fuel demonstration facility inaugurated in Pune, India

Praj Industries announced that its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demonstration facility at the company’s R&D center in Pune, India, was inaugurated Jan. 20 by Hardeep Singh Puri, the country’s minister of petroleum and natural gas.

Praj has developed a proprietary technology to process agricultural feedstocks for the production of SAF that can be blended with aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

The hard-to-abate aviation Industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels and also an emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG).

India is the third-largest and fastest-growing civil aviation market in the world, Praj noted.

The low-carbon SAF has a significant role in helping India achieve its net-zero goal targets by 2070.

“This facility demonstrating indigenously developed technology for production of SAF is a testament to India’s rising prowess in the global bioeconomy,” the minister said during the inauguration ceremony. “Utilization of captive agri-resources for the production of biofuels such as SAF is aligned with the government’s goals towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat and will go a long way in helping India achieve its energy self-reliance by 2047. I compliment the visionary leadership of Pramod Chaudhari and Team Praj for this exciting development.”

Chaudhari, Praj Industries’ executive chairman, added, “[The] inauguration of [our] SAF demonstration facility is yet another milestone in Praj’s pursuit of energy transition through bioeconomy. Recently, we collaborated with IOCL and AirAsia India to successfully fly India’s first commercial passenger flight with 1 percent SAF produced at our bench-scale setup that was blended with ATF. We truly believe in India’s potential to be a hub for supplying SAF for the global aviation industry and we stand committed to helping build SAF production capacities. We thank Minister Shri. Hardeep Singh Puri ji for his continued guidance and encouragement.”

Praj noted that around 3 percent of all GHG emissions worldwide are currently attributable to aviation.

Unless controlled, the emissions may balloon to as much as 22 percent of global GHG emissions, the company stated.

The International Civil Aviation Organization has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions from the aviation sector by 2050.

Harnessing SAF is regarded as the most promising pathway for helping achieve this target.