The Federal and Queensland Governments are backing a $36.8 million project to turn agricultural waste into green aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel.
The project, spearheaded by Jet Zero Australia, aims to establish a production facility in Townsville capable of producing approximately 110 million litres of low-carbon liquid fuels (LCLFs) annually.
This initiative is part of the Australian Government’s broader $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia package, designed to unlock investment and create jobs in sustainable industries.
Jet Zero Australia has formed a consortium of partners, including technology provider LanzaJet, and key investors such as Qantas, Airbus, and Idemitsu Kosan, to deliver this ambitious project.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed $9 million in funding, while the Queensland Government has pledged an additional $5 million through the Queensland New-Industry Development Strategy (QNIDS) to support the growth of local production capabilities and establish SAF value chains in the state.
The project will commence with a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study and further development work to assess the viability of a subsequent commercial-scale alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) production renewable fuels facility.
The conversion process involves transforming agricultural byproduct-based ethanol into low-carbon liquid fuels such as SAF and renewable diesel. The project is scheduled for completion by late 2025.
Initial modelling suggests that the Townsville plant could potentially reduce net domestic aviation carbon emissions by a staggering 70 per cent compared to conventional fossil fuel use, displacing up to 225,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
Domestic aviation currently accounts for approximately 2 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions and is considered a hard-to-abate sector, particularly for medium to long-haul flights.
The development of sustainable fuels like SAF plays a crucial role in the global transition to net-zero economies.
In the 2024-25 Federal Budget, the government announced several measures to support the domestic low-carbon liquid fuels industry, including $18.5 million over four years to develop a certification scheme for these fuels and $1.5 million over two years to conduct an impact analysis of demand-side measures for sustainable fuels.
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