Townsville is set to gain a sustainable aviation fuel production facility, which could drastically cut domestic carbon emissions, through the help of farmers
The federal government has announced it will support a homegrown sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project that will convert ethanol – made from agricultural waste – into jet fuel.
Through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Commonwealth has committed $9 million, with the Queensland state government contributing an additional $5 million to the project through the Queensland New-Industry Development Strategy to grow local production capabilities and establish SAF value chains in Queensland.
Farms & Farm Machinery reported in September that Australian farmers could play a key role in decarbonising the nation’s aviation industry through the development of a SAF refinery, and now this is possible.
With a total value of $36.8 million, the project would support the development of a Townsville production facility capable of producing approximately 110 million litres of low carbon liquid fuels such as SAF and renewable diesel each year.
“This presents an opportunity for farmers to sell their waste products into a supply chain that ultimately ends up as SAF,” Airbus chief representative for Australia and the Pacific Stephen Forshaw says.
“It would essentially turn the farming sector’s waste into a new fuel source which could contribute $13 billion to Australia’s gross domestic product annually.”
Domestic aviation approximately for about 2 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas, with the bulk of emissions coming from medium to long haul flights.
Based on initial modelling, the Townsville plant could cut net domestic aviation carbon emissions by 70 per cent per litre compared to conventional fossil fuel use, displacing up to 225,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
Airbus, Qantas and Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan have already invested heavily into companies looking to develop and produce SAF, one of which is Jet Zero Australia.
Jet Zero Australia has now formed a consortium of partners to support delivery of the project with the technology to be supplied by US-based LanzaJet.
The technology, known as alcohol-to-jet (ATJ), uses ethanol created by sugars in agricultural food products.
The project will include a Front-End Engineering Design study and further project development work to assess the viability of a subsequent commercial scale ATJ production renewable fuels facility.
This will see agricultural byproduct-based ethanol being converted into low carbon liquid fuels, with the project being due for completion in late 2025.