Demand for cleaner alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuel is increasing around the world as governments introduce policies aimed at reducing aviation’s dependence on conventional fossil fuels.
By 2030, the European Union will require sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to make up at least 6 percent of aviation fuel, with that requirement scheduled to climb to 70 percent by 2050. Countries including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, and Brazil are introducing similar measures, increasing pressure on participants in the global energy industry to reduce their dependence on crude oil.
SAF can be produced from a variety of recycled waste materials, including plant matter, animal fats, and used cooking oil. Used cooking oil has already emerged as an important source of existing SAF supplies, but the availability of additional waste cooking oil is beginning to tighten as refiners move quickly to secure the increasingly valuable resource.
Chinese company Niutech could offer another potential source. In a new press release, first reported by Interesting Engineering, the company announced a major contract with an unnamed “global energy major” to develop an “industrial continuous waste plastic pyrolysis production line.” The system is expected to have the capacity to produce between 10,000 and 50,000 tons of plastic-derived SAF annually.
The concept is relatively straightforward: Niutech is developing a large-scale supply system designed to transform discarded plastic into usable aviation fuel. The company plans to accomplish this through pyrolysis, a thermal decomposition process in which plastic waste is exposed to extremely high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment.
Pyrolysis is not a new technology, but its use remains relatively niche within industrial-scale plastics recycling. For plastic-based pyrolysis to help satisfy the rapidly growing demand for SAF, the technology would need to move beyond smaller environmental startups and become a broadly accepted industrial standard. That appears to be one of Niutech’s primary ambitions.
Unlike earlier SAF projects involving plastic waste, the new production line is expected to operate under a single roof. That could reduce the expensive transportation and handling requirements associated with moving waste between different stages of the process.
Niutech’s refinery is also reportedly designed to process a broad range of plastics, including polyethylene, nylon, polypropylene, and ABS. The company says these materials can be handled “without complex pre-treatment such as washing, sorting or drying,” potentially simplifying the difficult task of preparing plastic waste and converting it into refinable oil at industrial scale.
If Niutech and its unnamed energy-industry partner successfully bring the system online, the facility could provide the global aviation sector with a steady supply of plastic-derived SAF. It could also potentially serve as a model for other refineries seeking to develop similar large-scale plastic-to-fuel operations.
“Large-scale pyrolysis projects impose stringent requirements on continuous operational capability,” a Niutech spokesperson said in the company’s press release. The spokesperson added that Niutech has spent nearly 40 years focusing on pyrolysis technology and brings mature equipment and extensive project experience to the partnership, describing the agreement as another validation of the company’s industrial continuous technology.
