Sustainability officials at aviation manufacturer Airbus pointed out that Thailand has the potential to produce up to five million tonnes of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) per annum.
Company chief sustainability officer Julie Kitcher remarked on this at the Airbus Industry Outreach event held in Bangkok, Thailand last 11th April.
Kitcher said: “Thanks to its strong agricultural sector, Thailand has rich potential as a producer of SAF, with extensive feedstocks including molasses, agricultural waste such as rice straw and rice husk, corn cobs and leaves, and manure. It’s extremely encouraging to see Thailand’s ethanol industry considering SAF production. It is also very encouraging to see this ‘industry cooperation’ approach as this mindset will be needed in developing and validating data such as Life Cycle Assessment data for new feedstocks.”
Thailand’s place in the global SAF sector
Several projects are already under development to produce SAF from used cooking oil, such as that announced by Bangchak, as well as PTT Global Chemical’s initial foray into SAF via a co-processing pathway.
At the same time, Airbus executives note that alcohol-to-jet fuel derived from ethanol holds great promise here too.
It should also be noted that Thailand’s strategy to increase the number of electric vehicles on its roads nationwide will reduce demand for bioethanol in the road transport sector, freeing up more for use in SAF.
Kitcher said: “At Airbus, we look forward to working with the Thai government and SAF producers to help develop the industry.”
She added that there were two critical challenges that Thailand needs to address if it is to succeed as a primary source of SAF for the global aviation sector.
What needs to be done?
The first of these two issues is the need to pull new SAF technologies through their first stages of development, as these are the points where developmental and financial risks are at their highest.
Kitcher said of this: “We are also working to support SAF projects here in south-east Asia and Thailand. For example, we signed a memorandum of understanding with CP last year to explore the potential of SAF production from agricultural waste. We are also keen to help bring other new feedstocks on-stream here, too.”
The second issue that needs to be dealt with involves gaining a thorough understanding of the various feedstocks here.
According to Kitcher: “What we’ve learned at Airbus is that it’s not simply enough to understand the potential production capacity of a given feedstock. You also need an in-depth understanding of its location, accessibility and the costs of collecting and transporting it. Thailand has already made strong progress in gathering valuable data and information about where the country’s feedstocks are located.”
Keeping this in mind, policymakers play a key role when it comes to developing the Thai SAF industry.
Also, attaining success will require a high level of coordination between different stakeholders and the setting out of a clear ambition and roadmap.
Kitcher pointed out that the swift publication of a national SAF roadmap, including a 1 percent blending target for 2026, would provide potential producers and investors with the clarity they need.
