Chinese firms invest in 'green' jet fuel, anticipating blending rule

Biofuel firms are pouring more than $1b into building China's first plants to turn waste cooking oil into aviation fuel for export and meet domestic demand once Beijing mandates the fuel's use on airplanes to cut emissions. The world's second-largest aviation market, with about 11% of global jet fuel use, China is expected to unveil this year its policy on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) use for 2030 that could spur billions of dollars of investment, industry executives told Reuters. Companies such as Junheng Industry Group Biotech, Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech and Tianzhou New Energy plan to start up plants over the next 18 months to produce more than one million metric tons per year (tpy) of SAF combined, six SAF investors told Reuters. That figure would be equivalent to 2.5% of China's current annual demand for aviation fuel. Once online, the projects would soak up supplies of used cooking oil (UCO) feedstock that China currently ships out as world's largest exporter, company executives said. Last year, China exported a record 2.05m tons of UCO, mostly to the United States and Singapore, and providing feedstock to biofuel refiners such as Finnish firm Neste. "We're taking positions to prepare for the future," said Eason Chen, a vice president of Tianzhou New Energy, which is building a 200,000 tpy SAF plant in the southwestern province of Sichuan. "We're in discussion with airlines and oil majors for first exports and have proposed to the Chinese government to announce a clear SAF target," said Chen, a former jet fuel marketing executive with oil major BP.<br/>