https://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_101656.html
The City University of Kitakyushu and HiBD Research Institute have jointly developed a technology for the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using the patented HiJET technology that conforms to “Annex 2” of ASTM D7566, the international standard for Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
This technology uses animal and vegetable fats and oils such as waste cooking oil. By developing new catalysts and processes suitable for bio-jet fuel production, it became possible to produce bio-jet fuel at lower pressures and temperatures than existing technologies.
The challenge here was to remove oxygen atoms from the fats and oils during the hydrogenation process while preventing aromatization of the hydrocarbons, and to isomerize them so that they would not freeze even in sub-zero temperature environments where aircraft fly, thereby improving their fluidity. With the improved catalyst and process, we have succeeded in producing a fuel with a precipitation point below -65°C and an aromatic hydrocarbon concentration below 0.05%, which meets the international standard for bio-jet fuel.