Japan Hunts for Crude Oil for Green Aircraft Fuel

JAKARTA - Japan is hunting for waste oil. From the kitchen to the company canteen, waste oil is now being eyed as the fuel for the future aircraft.

Citing a Kyodo News report, which was quoted on Friday, June 5, Japan is speeding up the collection of used oil to pursue a target of 10 percent of airline fuel coming from sustainable sources by 2030.

The target sounds heroic. But on the ground, the matter is much more complicated. The plane can't fly with good intentions. It needs fuel. A lot of it.

From his kitchen, Watanabe contributed to Japan's future fuel. The cooking enthusiast collects about 40 liters of vegetable oil every year, then deposits it at the supermarket near his home.

The supermarket is part of about 300 participants in a government and private project called "Fry to Fly".

"It takes a very large amount to fly an airplane. Therefore, I hope more oil can be collected," said Watanabe.

The program is even more important amid the war involving Iran, which is squeezing energy supplies and driving up energy costs. For Japan, a country poor in natural resources, energy turmoil has always been a serious matter.

Japan estimates that it will need around 1.7 million kiloliters of sustainable aviation fuel or SAF by 2030. SAF is a sustainable aircraft fuel that can be made from raw materials such as waste oil.

However, Japan's current domestic SAF production is only around 30,000 kiloliters. That amount is only 0.3 percent of the total national jet fuel consumption.

Japan's two largest airlines, ANA and Japan Airlines, acknowledged the gravity of the situation.

"We are facing a much more severe reality than expected," the two said in a joint presentation on SAF last May.

The problem is not just intention. SAF is expensive. The raw materials are limited. The collection infrastructure is not enough. In a Reuters investigation last year, only about a fifth of the SAF projects announced by airlines in the world were actually underway.

If the 2030 target is missed, costs could rise. Refinery companies have to find more expensive SAF or imported raw materials. They could also face sanctions. In the end, airlines bear the burden. Passengers can feel it through ticket prices.

Singapore gives an example. The small country which is the center of Southeast Asian aviation has already required a 1 percent SAF mix. However, for this low target, Singapore is still very dependent on imported raw materials.

This year is a crucial period for the development of SAF in Japan. The government targets that the investment decisions for major projects will be completed so that mass production can begin in 2030.

Energy giant Eneos said the volume of collected waste oil would determine the continuation of its project with Mitsubishi Corp. The project is targeted to produce 400,000 kiloliters of SAF after fiscal year 2028.

Making SAF is not a light job. Oil must be collected, cleaned, then processed chemically, including through hydrogenation, which is processing with hydrogen so that oil can be converted into fuel. After that, the material still has to be distilled.

Because the process is expensive, investment decisions are risky. Engineering company JGC, which operates the first commercial-scale SAF plant in Japan with Cosmo Energy and REVO International, assesses that market demand must be clearer before production is expanded. The capacity of their plant is currently around 30,000 kiloliters per year.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is trying to get into the kitchen of residents. They want to partner with more business actors to collect oil from 7.8 million households.

Last fiscal year, Tokyo distributed 13,000 plastic straws with QR codes containing oil collection instructions. The results are still small: only 160 kiloliters throughout 2024.

According to Reuters calculations using the Saffaire Sky Energy formula, the joint venture company JGC-Cosmo, the amount is only enough to fly a Boeing 787 Dreamliner for about 17 hours. For national ambitions, the figure is still very thin.

"If we don't start now, we won't be able to reach the target by 2030," said Tokyo Government official Yasushi Sato, quoted by Kyodo News.

A number of companies have stepped in. Fujifilm began collecting cooking oil from employee canteens. Major retailers such as Aeon, Ito-Yokado, and 7-Eleven added used oil collection boxes.

But the limit is still hard. According to UCO Japan, even if all the residual oil in Japan is collected, the amount is only about 550,000 kiloliters. Even that is only enough to produce about a quarter of Japan's SAF needs by 2030.

This means that imports are almost inevitable. Japan has collected almost all oil waste from the business sector. While waiting for other technologies, such as bioethanol-based jet fuel, residual oil is still the most realistic domestic option.

"The target is very ambitious," said Motoomi Suzuki, senior economist at Norinchukin Research Institute, quoted by Kyodo News.