TotalEnergies and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) to develop jointly a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production unit at Sinopec’s refinery in China.
The jointly owned planned unit will have capacity to produce 230,000 tonnes of SAF per year, and will process local waste or residues from the circular economy (cooking oils and animal fats).
Sinopec developed SRJET, its own SAF production technology, back in 2009 and produced biojet fuel two years later, which was successfully tested in flight in 2013. It received airworthiness certification in 2014.
TotalEnergies, one of Europe’s leading SAF producers, will bring its experience and expertise in the technical, operational and distribution fields.
Yongsheng Ma, Sinopec Group Chairman, described it as a “milestone collaboration” in line with its strategy to develop low carbon solutions for China and globally.
He said, “Sinopec is committed to providing green and low-carbon energy solutions while improving quality and efficiency of its asset portfolio.”
Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, said, “The development of sustainable aviation fuels is at the heart of our company’s transition strategy, as we strive to meet the aviation industry’s demand to reduce its carbon footprint. TotalEnergies has set itself a target of 1.5 million tonnes of annual SAF production by 2030.”
TotalEnergies has two preferred modes of SAF production. The first begins with production in a biorefinery, which is then delivered to a dedicated storage facility and blended with standard jet fuel in an amount of up to 50% to produce SAF.
The second is co-processing, which consists in the insertion of biobased feedstock in addition to the usual fossil feedstock. At the end of the refining process, SAF is produced.
The company signed a strategic partnership with Airbus last month, to meet the challenges of aviation decarbonisation using SAF.
Alongside aiming to supply the European manufacturer with SAF for ‘more than half of its needs in Europe’, the tie-up will see a research and innovation programme developed with a view to producing fully sustainable fuels. In March 2023, the first A321neo flight flew on 100% SAF.
Last Friday (March 22), TotalEnergies announced the restart of production from the Tyra hub in the Danish North Sea, after the completion of a major redevelopment. At plateau, the Tyra hub will produce 5.7 million cbm of gas and 22,000 barrels of condensate per day.
TotalEnergies operates the Tyra field on behalf of Danish Underground Consortium, a partnership between TotalEnergies (43.2%), BlueNord (36.8%) and Nordsøfonden (20%).
