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The owner of Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport will build what it says is Australia’s first fully integrated sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility in Brisbane.
The project, in partnership with Boeing, has secured $760,000 in Queensland government funding and aims to start construction in 2026. It will use LanzaJet’s Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology to create ethanol-based fuel, with the expectation of 102 million litres of SAF per year.
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Wagner says the SAF produced at its Brisbane facility will “integrate seamlessly with existing airline infrastructure and meet rigorous fuel standards”. The company is already partnering with Boeing on a SAF blending facility at Toowoomba Wellcamp.
“Aviation uses billions of litres of fossil jet fuel per year and accounts for about 2.1 per cent of global CO2 emissions. In Australia alone, demand for jet fuel is expected to increase by 75 per cent over the next 25 years,” Wagner Sustainable Fuels CEO Matt Doyle said.
“Australia is in a strong position to produce and scale renewable liquid fuels to meet this challenge and grow a domestic low-carbon fuels industry.”
According to Queensland Minister for State Development and Infrastructure Grace Grace, growing the state’s SAF industry will create jobs as well as helping reduce carbon emissions.
“We are well on the way to establishing Queensland as a true green jet fuel hub for the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.
“The Queensland government is focused on securing our state’s future as a trailblazer in the sustainable aviation fuel industry. We look forward to our continuing work with Wagner to progress this game-changing opportunity for Queensland.”
The 2023 Boeing/CSIRO SAF Roadmap last year identified Australia as being in a “prime position” to develop a domestic SAF industry.
According to the roadmap’s author, CSIRO senior manager Max Temminghoff, Australia is in a good position to develop a domestic SAF industry but needs to address key challenges such as feedstock availability, supply chain issues, and international standards and regulations.
“By actively working to liberate feedstocks, the roadmap estimates that Australia is currently sitting on enough resources to produce almost 5 billion litres of SAF by 2025. This could supply nearly 60 per cent of jet fuel demand projected for that year,” he said last year.
“That’s enough fuel to power 640,000 Melbourne to Sydney return flights on a Boeing 737. Through a combination of feedstocks and mature technologies, a large and growing portion of Australia’s jet fuel demand can be met with local materials such as agricultural waste and residues.”
These materials, which include sugarcane, sawmill residues, and municipal solid waste, can be turned into SAF through processes including Alcohol-to-Jet and Fischer-Tropsch, the latter of which is currently being conducted at the CSIRO’s Perth lab.
Qantas, which is working with Boeing rival Airbus on the “Project Ulysses” SAF plant in northern Queensland, has previously called for a SAF blending mandate similar to those in jurisdictions such as the UK, the US, Europe, and Japan.
Murray Joel
says:SAF will be more expensive than Jet A1, feeding through to higher fares. All to address the unproven ‘CO2 bad’ hypothesis.
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says:I think you are being kind Murray by just saying, “more expensive”;- I seem to recall reading in this publication a report indicating an increased price of about 4 times that of Jet A1 at current rates. If that be the case, air travel will be for the rich and famous only. The only sobering thought at the moment for me is that the “Wagners” are involved, they do
have an excellent positive track record but I will not commit my beliefs until a full proven production analysis is published. We seem to favor ideology over practicality in this country AND, that arena seems to be growing almost uncontrollably.