Finnish producer Neste can produce as much as 1 million metric tonnes of fuel a year when 1.5b-euro refinery in Tuas is completed in 2023.
Singapore would have the world's largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity when Finnish producer Neste's Tuas facility is completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Currently, Neste is the top SAF producer globally in terms of output and capacity with an annual production capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes at its facility in Finland.
It will be able to roll out as much as 1 million metric tonnes of SAF per annum at its 1.5-billion-euro (S$2.2-billion) refinery in Tuas when the plant is ready by April next year, making Singapore Neste's main SAF production site.
SAF is a fuel produced from renewable raw materials, such as used cooking oil, or animal fat from food industry waste. It meets all quality and performance requirements of conventional fossil fuels but costs 3 to 5 times more. It is identified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as one of the key elements to achieving the aviation industry's emissions reduction goals.
Sami Jauhiainen, Neste's vice president of renewable aviation in Asia Pacific, told The Business Times: "We are seeing growing demand for SAF from the airlines that have put in place increasingly ambitious sustainability targets, and we see that regulations (mandates and incentives) are creating a growing market for SAF in Europe, North America and also in the Asia Pacific region."
Singapore is the hub of Neste's renewable production and commercial activities in the Asia Pacific region. Neste first invested in Singapore in 2007, in a renewable diesel refinery - also its then largest ever investment in renewable refining. The SAF plant will be next to its existing refinery.
