ARENA to fund Ampol and GrainCorp $8.94M for SAF studies

In Australia, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is looking to cut emissions in Australia’s skies, with up to A$14.1 million in funding for two projects from its Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Funding Initiative. ARENA is providing A$8 million in funding to Ampol and A$6.1 million to GrainCorp for separate studies to develop renewable fuel alternatives for Australia’s airline industry.

The two projects include:

A$8 million to Ampol for the A$30.2 million ‘Brisbane Renewable Fuels Pre-FEED Study’ which will investigate developing a renewable fuels facility of greater than 450ML p.a for SAF and renewable diesel production at the company’s Lytton refinery. 450ML of SAF would be equivalent to almost 5% of 2019 (pre-COVID) fossil jet fuel consumption. The funding will support Ampol to undertake its Pre-FEED engineering for Ampol’s Brisbane Renewable Fuels facility.

A$6.1 million to GrainCorp for the A$19.8 million ‘SAF Oilseed Crushing Facility Pre-Deployment Study’ to investigate the establishment of an oilseed crushing facility that, in alignment with GrainCorp’s feasibility assessment, may produce a minimum of 330kt p.a of canola oil as a feedstock input for SAF production. This represents approximately 12% of the 6.13Mt of canola exported from Australia in the last year to 30 September. The funding will occur over two stages, first for pre-FEED engineering and then, subject to review, FEED engineering.