Boost for Jet Zero fuel project in Townsville

Jet Zero Australia has attracted government support to the tune of $14 million to progress Project Ulysses, the company’s flagship sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in Townsville. Project Ulysses aims to convert agricultural by-products into 102 million litres of SAF and 11 million litres of renewable diesel per annum. The government grants follow more than $30 million in private investment made into Jet Zero Australia by investors including Qantas, Airbus and Idemitsu Kosan. And they build on an early $760,000 grant from the Department of State Development and Infrastructure to support the project’s initial feasibility study. Jet Zero Australia chief executive officer Ed Mason said production was hoped to begin by 2027. Jet Zero Australia chief executive officer Ed Mason. “Delivering Project Ulysses will help capture the economic benefits of a domestic SAF industry for Australia, which is expected to be worth $10 billion annually and create up to 26,200 jobs nationwide by 2030, with regional Australia positioned more than anywhere to benefit,” Mr Mason said. He said the project would also contribute to domestic energy security by bolstering domestic jet fuel production for civilian and potentially military aircraft. The jointly announced $14 million in government funding includes $9 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and $5 million from the Queensland Government through the Queensland New-Industry Development Strategy. The project represents ARENA's first announcement from its SAF funding initiative, launched in 2023 to support the development of domestic SAF production. Related: Idemitsu adds weight to NQ aviation fuel venture ARENA chief executive officer Darren Miller said the project was an exciting step towards producing SAF in Australia. “With abundant feedstocks and vast renewable energy resources, Australia is well placed to produce the sustainable aviation fuels we need, right here at home,” Mr Miller said. “ARENA is funding Jet Zero Australia to investigate producing sustainable aviation fuel in Queensland to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. “We’ll be taking an active role in making sure the lessons from Jet Zero Australia’s study are shared with the industry at large, helping build a path to large-scale production in Australia.” Based on modelling, the use of sustainable aviation fuels, like the one produced by Jet Zero Australia’s project, could reduce domestic aviation carbon emissions by 70 per cent compared to conventional fossil-based fuel, displacing up to 225,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The next steps for Jet Zero Australia’s project include a $36.8 million front-end engineering design (FEED) study to determine the viability of its commercial scale alcohol-to-jet low carbon liquid fuel (LCLF) production facility and progress towards a final investment decision. You may also like: https://industryqld.com.au/rio-tinto-pilot-to-get-the-good-oil-on-diesel-replacement/

Boost for Jet Zero fuel project in Townsville

Industry Queensland

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