Industrial biotechnology company, Praj Industries and Indian Oil Corporation will be getting a joint venture for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). ATJ fuel would help curb emissions emanating from the aeroplanes
The IOC board approved the JV and further approvals are expected by the end of the year, Pramod Chaudhari, founder chairman of Praj Industries said. Praj and IOC signed an MoU last year to explore opportunities to fast-track the production of Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) fuels, 1G, 2G ethanol and compressed bio-gas.
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, chairman, Indian Oil, said they were setting up the first SAF plant in collaboration with a US cleantech company, LanzaJet at Panipat and they were open to setting up a second SAF JV with Praj. Robust SAF technology was needed and that is where Praj had a role to play, he said.
Vaidya said he wanted investment and commitment from the airline for using SAF. He recently had a meeting with CEOs of airlines and they had expressed willingness to invest in equity. IOC did not need the investment for the plant but what the JV wanted from airlines was offtake commitment and the airlines were keen on equity, Vaidya said. IOC could consider off-loading 2-5% equity to each of the airlines interested in investing in the SAF JVs.
SAF is an emerging solution for cleaner skies and Praj was developing a resilient industry ecosystem to capitalize on promising opportunities in SAF, Chaudhari said. Praj was talking to Air Asia and the Director General of Civil Aviation to run India’s first commercial passenger flight on fuel blended with SAF.
Praj has partnered with Gevo, Inc USA for developing technology for the production of SAF. Praj has an MoU with Axens of France for building SAF projects,
The Praj and Indian Oil JV has plans to set up multiple facilities in India to produce around 400 to 500 tons per day of SAF by 2030 by using sustainable feedstock such as cane molasses, cane syrup and deploying low carbon intensity alcohol-to-Jet technology.
“We are trying to be a greener company and working on energy efficiency as it is a low-hanging fruit that can give immense greenhouse reduction. Biofuel is one big area in our basket as a way of achieving net zero operational energies,” Vaidya said during his visited to Praj Matrix, the industrial biotech research and development facility of Praj Industries, that was behind all the new generation biofuel technologies including the SAF for reducing carbon emissions.
Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) guidelines require airlines to achieve 2% blending by 2025 and 5% by 2030 to substantially reduce carbon emissions in the aviation sector.