Axens Builds 50,000-Ton-Per-Year Sustainable Aviation Fuel Plant in France

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Axens is advancing the ERA (Ethanol-to-Aviation Fuel) project, which will be France's first industrial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production unit using advanced bioethanol as feedstock. The project will be developed by a project company named SAFIRIS, with a design capacity of 50,000 tons per year, targeting commissioning by 2030, using advanced ethanol produced in Europe as feedstock.

The unit will deploy the JETANOL™ technology jointly developed by Axens and IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN). This technology converts bioethanol into sustainable aviation fuel and bio-naphtha through three integrated steps: dehydration, oligomerization, and hydrogenation. JETANOL™ technology is considered to have high yield and maturity and has been selected by several international alcohol-to-jet fuel projects.

The ERA project is positioned as an energy transition and sovereignty project, aiming to broaden the supply channels of sustainable aviation fuel beyond the HEFA route using waste cooking oil and animal fats, while developing value chains based on local resources. The project aims to support European regulatory targets under the ReFuelEU regulation, which requires SAF usage for flights departing from France to exceed 1 million tons per year by 2035, and mandates that SAF accounts for 6% of EU aviation fuel by 2030 and 70% by 2050.

Axens views the ERA project, alongside other French initiatives such as the NACRE advanced bioethanol project in Lacq and the MACARON battery materials project in Valenciennes, as a replicable model. This model aims to expand the SAF value chain, reduce dependence on imported jet fuel, and create direct and indirect jobs in the advanced ethanol supply chain.