Launch of Joint Study on the Establishment of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Manufacturing Business in Japan Using Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) Technology

(Mitsui & Co.) Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) and Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd. ("Cosmo", President, Representative Director and CEO: Yasuhiro Suzuki, Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo) have agreed to carry out a collaborative study using industry leading technology from LanzaJet, Inc. in preparation for the establishment of a biofuel production facility to make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and establish a new business in Japan.

The new business will combine Cosmo's track record of safe and stable plant operations, jet fuel quality management, and trading operations in the oil refining business, with Mitsui's ethanol procurement capabilities and LanzaJet's proprietary SAF technology, in order to establish a reliable SAF supply chain and create new business in the growing biofuels sector.

Mitsui and Cosmo aim to establish large-scale domestic SAF production operations at Cosmo refineries, using LanzaJet's proprietary Alcohol-to-Jet* (ATJ) technology. LanzaJet's ATJ process is a highly efficient technology that can produce up to 90% of its product as SAF and convert nearly all of the carbon from the ethanol to hydrocarbon products. ATJ technology was developed by LanzaJet, Inc., in which Mitsui has invested.

Demand for SAF is expected to expand rapidly because of its potential to reduce CO2 emissions by the aviation industry, and commercial production has started in a number of countries. Japan will also need to realize large-scale production capacity for and stable supply of SAF to achieve a government target of replacing 10% of aviation fuel used by airlines in SAF by 2030. To resolve these issues, Mitsui and Cosmo plan to produce and supply 220,000 kiloliters of SAF in Japan annually by fiscal 2027 through this project. The two companies will also explore the possibility of each year selling 20,000 kiloliters of renewable diesel, which is a co-product of SAF production, as a fuel for transport vehicles, trucks, heavy equipment, and other machinery used at airports.

Mitsui and Cosmo have both identified the expansion of business that helps to address climate change as a major priority. The two companies see SAF manufacturing as a medium- to long-term business opportunity and will continue to contribute to the decarbonization of the aviation industry and the reliable supply of low-carbon fuels by continually expanding their SAF manufacturing operations in Japan, and by pursuing switching to domestic production of ethanol feedstock in the future.

*ATJ technology: This technology is used to manufacture sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through similar technology used in traditional oil refineries, using sustainable (low-carbon) alcohol (ethanol) as the SAF building block, and has been certified for use in aircraft under the required ASTM standards (ASTM D7566 Annex 5). LanzaJet, Inc., a Mitsui & Co. investee, is building a 38 million liter per year commercial SAF manufacturing plant in Georgia, U.S.A.

Project concept

Excerpt from Biobased Diesel Daily: Japanese petrochemical company Cosmo Oil Co. Ltd. announced in late July that, in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the aviation sector, it has set a goal of supplying 3 million liters (792,516 gallons) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per year by 2030.

To achieve its goal, the company said it will work to establish a domestic SAF supply chain while diversifying raw materials and production processes, including commercializing SAF made from used cooking oil at its refineries and exploring the possibility of using alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology to produce SAF from ethanol.

Last October, Honeywell announced that JGC Holdings Corp. and Cosmo Oil will use Honeywell Ecofining™ technology for the first commercial-scale SAF project in Japan.

The project will convert used cooking oil locally collected in Japan into SAF, with start-up scheduled in 2025.

Cosmo Oil is also part of a consortium selected for funding by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization to establish a supply-chain model for SAF from used cooking oil, which was announced one year ago. READ MORE