Saffaire Sky Energy completes SAF plant construction in Japan, Cosmo to supply fuel to domestic airlines

Construction on the Saffaire Sky Energy SAF production facility in Japan was completed in late December. (Photo: Cosmo Energy Holdings)

Cosmo Oil Marketing, a group company of Cosmo Energy Holdings, announced Jan. 27 that it will begin supplying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced domestically by Saffaire Sky Energy LLC to Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways beginning in 2025.

The Cosmo Energy Group, together with JGC Holdings Corp. and Revo International, has been considering the feasibility of building a supply chain from the collection of domestic waste edible oil to the production, transportation and supply of SAF, and established a new company—Saffaire Sky Energy—in 2022.

The aim is to supply approximately 30 million liters (nearly 8 million gallons) of SAF per year using only domestic waste edible oil as a raw material.

The SAF manufacturing facility was completed Dec. 25.

With the start of supply to domestic airlines from this year onwards, the first domestically produced SAF supply chain in Japan will be established.

The SAF to be supplied was selected as part of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) subsidized project “Establishment of a supply chain model for SAF production using domestic waste edible oil as a raw material” in 2021 and is the first domestically produced SAF to be produced on a large scale in Japan.

It has also obtained international certification as a sustainable product via International Sustainability and Certification System GmbH’s CORSIA and EU certificates.

The International Civil Aviation Organization has set a target for the aviation industry to reduce CO2 emissions from international flights to virtually zero by 2050 and has stipulated that from 2024 onwards CO2 emissions from the international aviation sector must be reduced by 15 percent compared to 2019 levels.

Promoting the spread of SAF will play an important role in accelerating the decarbonization of the aviation industry.

As the first step in promoting its spread, SAF will be produced on a large scale for the first time in Japan by Saffaire Sky Energy and will be supplied to domestic airlines through the Cosmo Energy Group.

From 2025 onwards, Cosmo will establish an SAF supply chain that will cover everything from procurement of the waste-oil feedstock to manufacturing and quality control of SAF, and supplying it to airlines, all within Japan.

This will be the first such initiative in Japan.

“We believe it is extremely significant that we will be able to establish a domestic SAF supply chain by starting to supply to domestic airlines,” said Koji Moriyama, the president and CEO of Cosmo Oil Marketing.

Masataka Akika, a representative from Saffaire Sky Energy, added, “Since 2021, with the support of the Japanese government, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, and NEDO, we have been advancing our business with JGC Holdings, Cosmo Oil and Revo International, and through activities such as ‘Act for Sky’ and ‘Fry to Fly,’ we have created a major wave of domestic resource circulation, and we would like to express our gratitude to everyone involved.”