Japanese Firms Partner With Velocys for SAF, e-SAF

Two Japanese companies are partnering separately with UK- and US-based synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) developer Velocys to use its technology for producing e-SAF and SAF.

Japanese chemical firm Sekisui Chemical signed a deal with Velocys to produce e-SAF, the company said on 21 August.

Sekisui has developed a technology to convert CO2 to CO at the reaction yield rate of 90pc or higher, with support from Japanese state-owned research institute Nedo. The company plans to use this CO to make e-SAF through Velocys' Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology, which makes hydrocarbons from CO and hydrogen at a conversion rate of 90-95pc.

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Sekisui will first design the process to connect its CO2-to-CO converting technology with Velocys' FT technology. Sekisui expects to start trials and scale up e-SAF production in the long term, a company spokesperson told Argus.

Meanwhile, Japanese engineering firm Toyo Engineering, which already has an ongoing partnership with Velocys since 2021, will explore various feedstocks to produce SAF and e-SAF supply through the FT technology, Toyo said on 21 August.

Toyo entered a collaboration agreement with Velocys in 2021, and under that deal it has the license to use Velocys' FT technology in the Japanese market. The company had conducted a demonstration of woody-biomass-derived SAF production using the FT technology in 2021.

But the demonstration showed that using biomass-derived feedstock could be costly and led the company to explore the alternative feedstock, a Toyo representative told Argus.

The company now plans to try using feedstocks such as municipal waste, captured CO2 and green hydrogen in producing SAF through Velocys' FT technology or Toyo's methanol-synthesis technology. Toyo will then compare the production process in terms of economic and technical benefits.

The FT technology-based production can also make synthetic fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel. Toyo plans to study whether co-producing such synthetic fuels is economically feasible. Toyo's project is supported by Nedo, and the company aims to finish these studies in the April 2026-March 2027 fiscal year.