Aviation Has Found Its Decarbonization Molecule – and a USD 15 Billion Industry Is Being Built Around It
Aviation is responsible for approximately 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and – when non-CO2 warming effects including contrails and nitrogen oxides are included – its total climate impact is estimated at between 3.5% and 5% of global warming. It is also, uniquely among major emission sources, an industry for which full electrification is not on the horizon for long-haul commercial operations within any commercially relevant timeframe.
Battery technology can decarbonize cars. Overhead wires can electrify trains. Green hydrogen fuel cells can power short-haul maritime ferries. But a Boeing 777 flying from Mumbai to London carries approximately 120,000 litres of jet fuel – and no battery technology currently available, or credibly foreseeable within this decade, can store that much energy at an acceptable weight for a commercial aircraft.
This leaves the aviation industry with one practically viable near-term decarbonization pathway: replace the carbon molecules in conventional jet fuel with carbon molecules sourced from renewable or recycled feedstocks rather than from fossil crude oil. That replacement fuel is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – and the industry being built around it is one of the fastest-growing, most actively regulated, and most commercially consequential clean energy markets in the world right now. The global sustainable aviation fuel market size was valued at USD 2.72 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from USD 4.02 billion in 2026 to USD 40.09 billion by 2034, exhibiting a CAGR of 33.3% during the forecast period.
The sustainable aviation fuel market size was valued at USD 3.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from USD 3.3 billion in 2026 to USD 15.3 billion by 2033 at a CAGR of 24.6%. According to Markets and Markets, the global sustainable aviation fuel market size was valued at USD 4.86 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 31.45 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 45.3% from 2026 to 2031.
The variance across these projections reflects genuine methodological differences in what is counted as SAF and how demand scenarios are modeled. What is consistent across every credible source is the direction, the pace, and the commercial urgency – this is among the most rapidly scaling clean fuel markets in the world, driven by the simultaneous pressure of binding regulatory mandates, airline net-zero commitments, and the first generation of commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production infrastructure coming online.
For biofuel technology companies, refinery operators, feedstock processors, agricultural technology companies, chemical engineering firms, airline procurement teams, and clean energy investors – Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is the market you cannot afford not to understand heading into 2027.
What Sustainable Aviation Fuel Actually Is – and Why It Solves Aviation’s Unique Problem
Sustainable aviation fuel is a drop-in replacement for conventional jet fuel – it can be blended with Jet-A or Jet-A1 fuel and used in existing aircraft engines and airport fuel infrastructure without modification. This drop-in compatibility is its most commercially decisive characteristic, because it means SAF can decarbonize aviation without requiring airlines to replace their fleets, airports to rebuild their fueling infrastructure, or aircraft manufacturers to redesign their engines.
SAF is produced from non-fossil feedstocks – used cooking oil, agricultural residues, municipal solid waste, forest residues, animal fats, alcohol, captured CO2, or electricity – through a variety of conversion processes that produce a fuel chemically similar to conventional jet fuel. When burned in an aircraft engine, SAF produces CO2 – but that CO2 came from atmospheric carbon that the feedstock absorbed during its growth or production, rather than from geological carbon that has been sequestered for millions of years. On a lifecycle basis, SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 94% compared to conventional jet fuel, depending on the production pathway and feedstock used.
By fuel type, biofuel-based SAF dominates the sustainable aviation fuel market with 89% market share. By technology and pathway, HEFA (Hydro processed Esters and Fatty Acids) leads with 82.40% market share. By feedstock, used cooking oil and waste oils hold 67.30% market share. By blend ratio, below 30% is projected to remain the undisputed leader with 78.60% market share.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is currently certified for use at blend ratios up to 50% with conventional jet fuel under ASTM D7566 – the international standard governing alternative aviation fuels. Above 50%, additional certification work is required. Most current SAF deployments use blends of 1% to 30%, reflecting the current balance between available supply and airline procurement programs.
The Global Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Market in Numbers – Production, Demand and the Gap
The production story of SAF is one of rapid scaling from near zero – but honest assessment requires acknowledging that production is still dramatically below where demand is heading.
Global Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) output reached approximately 600 million liters, or 0.5 million metric tons, strictly during 2023. Subsequently, global SAF production rapidly reached 1 million tons, equating to 330 million gallons, during 2024. In 2025, global sustainable aviation fuel output reached 1.9 million tons or 2.4 billion total liters. Projected 2026 global SAF output will hit 2.4 million tons, accurately translating to 792.6 million gallons. Despite this growth, the massive global sustainable aviation fuel market realization gap widened from 7.0 million tons to 11.6 million tons recently. Replacing a 320,000 tonnes-per-day disruption would deplete the 2026 annual SAF capacity within 7.5 days completely.
Over 140 individual sustainable aviation fuel production projects are currently underway globally as of early 2026. The production gap between current output and regulatory mandate requirements is the single most commercially defining feature of the SAF market in 2027. The EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation mandates 2% SAF on all flights departing EU airports from 2025, rising to 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035, 34% in 2040, 42% in 2045, and 70% by 2050. ICAO’s CORSIA scheme enters its mandatory phase for international routes from 2027. India’s 1% domestic mandate activates in 2027. The UK’s SAF mandate is in effect. Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand all have active or imminent SAF mandates.
Every one of these mandates creates structured, regulatory-forced demand for SAF that airlines have no choice but to procure – and production is not yet close to meeting it. That gap is simultaneously the industry’s most acute challenge and its most compelling commercial opportunity. The consumption volume of sustainable aviation fuel is projected to grow from 712.5 million liters in 2026 to 4,150.8 million liters by 2031.
The Five Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Production Pathways – A Complete Technology Guide
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) can be produced through five distinct technological pathways, each with different feedstocks, costs, carbon intensities, and commercial maturity levels. Understanding which pathway fits which feedstock and which market is foundational for any company evaluating the SAF production opportunity.
1: HEFA — Hydro-Processed Esters and Fatty Acids
HEFA is the most commercially mature SAF production pathway, accounting for approximately 82% of current global SAF production. It processes fats, oils, and greases – used cooking oil, animal tallow, palm fatty acid distillate, vegetable oils, and algal oils – through hydro-processing to produce a high-quality drop-in jet fuel with lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of 50% to 80% versus conventional jet fuel. HEFA’s commercial dominance reflects its process compatibility with existing refinery infrastructure – a standard hydro-processing unit can be converted or co-configured for HEFA production without building an entirely new facility. Neste – the world’s largest SAF producer – built its global leadership almost entirely on HEFA technology.
The primary constraint on HEFA’s growth is feedstock availability. Used cooking oil and animal tallow are finite waste streams. As demand for HEFA SAF, renewable diesel, and biodiesel all compete for the same feedstock pool, UCO prices have risen significantly and feedstock supply has become the binding constraint on HEFA production growth globally. Limited raw waste oil supplies directly inflate overall manufacturing costs for all major producers.
2: ATJ – Alcohol to Jet
Alcohol-to-jet conversion processes ethanol or isobutanol through dehydration, oligomerization, and hydrogenation to produce jet fuel. ATJ is particularly relevant for countries with large ethanol industries – including the United States, Brazil, and India – because it enables the conversion of existing ethanol surplus into a higher-value aviation fuel without building entirely separate fermentation infrastructure.
IOCL is already setting up an 86,800-tonne ATJ plant in Panipat using LanzaJet technology, scheduled for 2028. India’s April 24, 2026 decision to amend ATF specifications to formally allow up to 1% ethanol blending through the alcohol-to-jet pathway, certified to ASTM D7566 standards, directly opens the ATJ route for Indian ethanol producers to access the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) market – potentially the most commercially significant regulatory decision for India’s SAF production ecosystem in 2026. India’s ATJ SAF is roughly 1.5 times the cost of conventional ATF – significantly lower than the global 2 to 3 times premium – reflecting India’s structural advantage in ethanol feedstock cost relative to international markets.
FT-SPK – Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis converts syngas – a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced from gasification of biomass, municipal solid waste, or coal – into synthetic hydrocarbon fuels including SAF. FT-SAF has a proven track record going back to South Africa’s Sasol coal-to-liquid programs, and modern biomass-based FT systems using forestry and agricultural residues can deliver lifecycle greenhouse gas savings exceeding 85%.
FT’s capital intensity and the complexity of large-scale syngas production have historically limited its commercial deployment relative to HEFA, but the technology’s ability to use heterogeneous feedstocks – essentially any carbonaceous material – gives it a long-run feedstock flexibility advantage that becomes more commercially significant as HEFA feedstock constraints tighten.
Power-to-Liquid (PtL) – e-SAF
Power-to-liquid or e-SAF uses renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis, captures CO2 from the atmosphere or industrial sources, and combines them through Fischer-Tropsch or methanol synthesis to produce a synthetic aviation fuel. When powered by genuinely renewable electricity and atmospheric CO2, PtL SAF has a lifecycle carbon intensity that can approach or exceed zero – making it the only production pathway that can in principle continue to scale without feedstock constraints once renewable electricity and direct air capture of CO2 are both available at commercial scale.
By feedstock type, the renewable electricity and CO2 (FORe-SAF/PTL) segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 60.7% from 2026 to 2031, supported by growing interest in synthetic e-fuels and power-to-liquid technologies. PtL SAF is currently 3 to 5 times more expensive than HEFA SAF, reflecting the high capital cost of electrolysis, direct air capture, and synthesis infrastructure at current scale. The EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation specifically mandates 1.2% of synthetic fuels (which must include PtL) from 2030 to ensure the technology receives structured demand signals that support investment in cost reduction.
Gasification and Pyrolysis Pathways
Municipal solid waste and mixed waste streams can be converted to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through gasification followed by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, or through pyrolysis to produce bio-oil that is then upgraded to jet fuel. These pathways address the feedstock diversification challenge by using waste streams with no competing demand – and in markets with strong waste management policy frameworks, they create a combined waste disposal and fuel production solution that has genuine policy and commercial appeal.
The Global Regulatory Framework – Every Mandate Every Company Must Know
The regulatory architecture driving sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demand is the most important commercial context for any company in this market, because it transforms discretionary airline sustainability commitments into binding legal obligations with financial penalties for non-compliance.
European Union – ReFuelEU Aviation
The EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation is the most comprehensive sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate in the world, applying to all flights departing EU airports from 1 January 2025. It mandates 2% SAF from 2025, rising to 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035, 34% in 2040, 42% in 2045, and 70% by 2050. A specific synthetic fuel sub-mandate requires 1.2% PtL SAF from 2030, rising to 35% by 2050. Non-compliant fuel suppliers and airlines face financial penalties, and airports that fail to make SAF available face regulatory action. The EU mandate is the single most commercially consequential SAF regulatory framework in the world because the flights departing EU airports carry the largest share of globally significant international aviation traffic – meaning every major international airline must meet EU SAF requirements regardless of its home country’s national policy.
ICAO CORSIA – The Global Carbon Offsetting Scheme
ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation entered its mandatory phase in January 2027 for routes between participating countries. Under CORSIA, airlines must offset CO2 above 85% of 2019 levels on international routes either through purchasing carbon offsets or by using eligible SAF – with eligible SAF credits worth more than carbon offsets in most scenarios. India joined CORSIA in 2019, meaning Indian carriers face their first binding compliance year in 2027. The mandatory phase covers routes between the 88 CORSIA-participating countries – a significant proportion of global international aviation traffic.
United Kingdom
The UK’s SAF mandate requires 10% SAF in jet fuel supplied at UK airports by 2030, rising to 22% by 2040 and 10% synthetic fuel by 2040. The UK’s mandate is backed by a revenue certainty mechanism – a government guarantee of minimum revenue for UK-based SAF producers – that is explicitly designed to de-risk the capital investment required for domestic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity.
United States
The US Inflation Reduction Act’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Credit provides a tax credit of USD 1.25 to USD 1.75 per gallon for SAF produced in the United States, depending on lifecycle carbon intensity reduction. The US also operates a Renewable Fuel Standard that includes SAF as a qualifying renewable fuel. The US Department of Energy, USDA, and DOT’s SAF Grand Challenge targets 3 billion gallons per year of domestic SAF production by 2030 – enough to replace 10% of US aviation fuel consumption.
Japan
Japan has proposed an ambitious path toward 10% SAF share by 2030, backed by the Green Innovation Fund allocating over JPY 2 trillion for research, development, and scaling of future SAF technologies. Japan’s close relationship with India’s SAF development ecosystem – through the ACME-Mitsubishi Gas Chemical green methanol agreement and multiple technology sharing frameworks – makes it one of the most commercially relevant international partners for Indian sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producers.
Singapore
Singapore implements a 1% SAF mandate from 2026, rising to 3 to 5% by 2030, funded through passenger levies creating a sustainable financial model for bridging the cost gap between SAF and conventional jet fuel. Singapore’s position as Asia’s primary aviation hub makes its SAF policy particularly influential – SAF availability at Changi Airport creates structural demand for SAF delivered through Singapore’s international fuel supply chains.
South Korea
South Korea has signaled a 1% SAF uplift for international flights from 2027 – the same year as India’s mandate. South Korea’s aviation market is served by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, both of which have active SAF procurement programs that create near-term commercial demand for Asian SAF producers.
Malaysia
Malaysia plans to start producing SAF in 2027, with an initial production capacity of one million metric tonnes per year. Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, is in a strategic position to become one of the world’s leading SAF producers. Under its National Energy Transition Roadmap, the government established an SAF blending mandate starting with 1%, aiming for 47% blend by 2050. EcoCeres Renewable Fuels and Petronas – in partnership with Enilive and Euglena – are constructing SAF refinery and production plants with combined capacity of 1 million metric tonnes per year.
India’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Story – From Mandate to Market in 2027
India’s sustainable aviation market (SAF) market is entering its most commercially active phase simultaneously at the regulatory, production, and airline procurement levels – creating a convergence of demand, supply, and technology development that makes 2027 a defining year for the Indian aviation fuel industry.
The Regulatory Framework
The government has set targets of a 1% SAF blend by 2027, 2% by 2028, and 5% by 2030. India sets a 1% SAF blending mandate for 2027 and 2% for 2028, with Indian Oil Corporation flagging feedstock availability as the main barrier to scaling sustainable aviation fuel at the pace the mandate requires.
India’s most significant recent regulatory development is the April 24, 2026 decision that does three things simultaneously. First, it amends ATF specifications to formally allow up to 1% ethanol blending through the alcohol-to-jet pathway, certified to ASTM D7566 standards. Second, it creates a Civil Aviation Sustainability Cell within the Ministry to oversee SAF production, certification, and lifecycle accounting. Third, it ties India’s domestic SAF roadmap to ICAO’s CORSIA emissions-baseline year – which is critical because Indian carriers face offset obligations on international routes from 2027.
The decision also asks public-sector oil marketing companies – primarily IOCL and BPCL – to commission at least one HEFA-route SAF unit by 2028 using used cooking oil and tallow as feedstock. The Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association has been pushing the alcohol-to-jet pathway because India’s bamboo-based and grain-based ethanol capacity is already running ahead of E20 demand, creating a structural surplus that SAF could absorb at higher value.
Indian carriers operating EU routes already face the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation 2% mandate from 2025 – providing an immediate commercial driver for SAF procurement independent of India’s domestic mandate timeline.
The CORSIA Pressure
CORSIA was adopted in 2016 with a pilot phase from 2021, voluntary phase until 2026, and mandatory phase from 2027 onwards for routes between participating states. Once mandatory, airlines flying international routes must offset CO2 above the baseline – revised to 85% of 2019 levels – using approved emission units or eligible SAF. India joined CORSIA in 2019. Indian carriers face their first binding compliance year in 2027. The external pressure from ICAO’s CORSIA and the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation – combined with India’s domestic ATF specification amendment – has aligned to make 2027 the year when Indian airlines must begin structured SAF procurement rather than simply making aspirational sustainability commitments.
IOCL Panipat – India’s First Commercial SAF Facility
Indian Oil’s Panipat refinery became the first in India to achieve ISCC CORSIA certification in August 2025 and was expected to begin producing SAF from UCO, with an initial production capacity of 35,000 tonnes per year. The project has been delayed and is now expected to start in the second half of 2026. The ISCC CORSIA certification – a recognized international standard allowing SAF produced at the plant to be used by airlines to meet their CORSIA obligations – is particularly commercially significant because it enables IOCL Panipat SAF to be sold to international carriers on routes between CORSIA-participating countries, expanding the addressable market beyond domestic Indian aviation.
BPCL Mumbai – The Second Indian CORSIA-Certified Facility
BPCL’s refinery in Mumbai received the ISCC CORSIA certification for SAF production via the used cooking oil co-processing pathway in May 2026. The SAF production facility is expected to become operational by the end of 2026. This certification allows SAF produced at the BPCL Mumbai plant to be used by airlines to meet their greenhouse gas reduction obligations under CORSIA – adding a second CORSIA-certified Indian production source alongside IOCL Panipat.
MRPL – The Third Indian Producer
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals in May 2026 issued a tender for the supply of 35,000 tonnes of Indian UCO for SAF production, to be delivered over one year between September 1, 2026 and August 31, 2027, making it the third Indian refinery actively commissioning SAF production capability.
Praj Industries – The Technology Leader
Praj Industries is India’s most important indigenous SAF technology company and the only organization with demonstrated end-to-end SAF process capability across both HEFA and ATJ pathways. Praj announced successful ethanol-to-jet fuel process runs using Axens Jetanol technology at its fully integrated SAF demonstration plant at Praj Matrix – its R&D centre – presented at Wings India 2026 during a SAF roundtable chaired by a senior official from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The SAF demo plant has validated both alcohol-to-jet pathways – first using bio-isobutanol and now bio-ethanol as feedstocks – indicating technological readiness across multiple routes to SAF.
Praj Industries sees SAF demand targeting 30 to 40 billion liters globally, with India’s domestic bioenergy capacity in ethanol specifically well-positioned to serve this demand through the ATJ pathway. Praj’s partnership with BPCL for advanced biofuels – alongside its partnership with Axens for ATJ technology – gives it a commercially credible position at the intersection of India’s ethanol surplus and its growing SAF mandate demand.
AM Green – The Advanced Biofuel Pathway
AM Green – the same company building India’s largest green ammonia facility at Kakinada – is developing ETJ (ethanol-to-jet) capability as part of its broader clean molecule platform, alongside IOCL in an IOCL-Praj partnership for second-generation ETJ using advanced feedstocks.
The Long-Term Vision
Per the Deloitte India report, India could produce 8 to 10 million tonnes of SAF annually by FY40. Investments worth INR 6 to 7 lakh crore – USD 70 to 85 billion – would be required to realize the projected SAF production. It will give impetus to the aviation sector’s decarbonization efforts, reducing carbon emissions to 20 to 25 million tonnes annually. An 8 to 10 million tonnes production would surpass India’s estimated domestic demand of 4.5 million tonnes for a 15% blending mandate in 2040 across all flights, potentially positioning India as a leading SAF exporter serving global markets. The projected capital investment will create between 1.1 and 1.4 million jobs across the value chain and reduce crude oil import bills by USD 5 to 7 billion annually.
The Airlines Driving Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Demand – Who Is Buying and How Much
The airline industry’s SAF procurement commitments are the demand side of the SAF equation – and the scale and specificity of these commitments has grown dramatically in the past two years.
Air India signed a memorandum of understanding with Praj Industries to explore SAF supply partnerships, reflecting the newly privatized carrier’s commitment to sustainability as a strategic differentiator in international route competition. IndiGo – India’s largest airline by market share – has signed SAF supply agreements with multiple international producers, including SAF purchased for its flights departing European airports to meet ReFuelEU Aviation requirements.
Internationally, the world’s largest airlines have made long-term SAF offtake commitments that are driving production investment at unprecedented scale. United Airlines has committed to purchasing 3.4 billion gallons of SAF over 20 years – the largest single SAF purchase commitment in aviation history. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and Singapore Airlines all have active SAF procurement programs with multi-year purchase agreements.
The structure of these agreements – long-term commitments at fixed or formula-based prices – is critically important for SAF producers because it provides the revenue certainty needed to justify the capital investment in production facilities that run to hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Without long-term offtake, SAF production investment cannot be financed. With it, the projects that are currently under construction across the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and now India become bankable.
The Global Companies Building the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Industry
Neste – The World’s Largest SAF Producer
Neste of Finland is the undisputed global leader in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production, having built its leadership through HEFA technology using waste and residue feedstocks. Neste’s SAF production capacity expanded significantly following the completion of its Singapore refinery expansion in 2023, making it the single largest commercial SAF producer globally. Neste supplies SAF to over 100 airlines and has delivered more than 2 million tonnes of SAF since commercial production began. Its renewable products division – which includes SAF, renewable diesel, and renewable feedstocks for plastics – generated revenue of approximately EUR 8 billion in 2025.
TotalEnergies – The Integrated Energy Major
TotalEnergies has converted its La Mède refinery in France and its Grandpuits platform to bio-refinery operations producing SAF, renewable diesel, and bio-naphtha. Its SAF production targets 400,000 tonnes per year from French facilities by 2030, making it Europe’s largest domestic SAF producer. TotalEnergies is also a major aviation fuel supplier globally, giving it integrated distribution infrastructure alongside production capability.
World Energy – The US Pioneer
World Energy converted its Paramount, California refinery to SAF production in 2021 – the first large-scale SAF production facility in the United States. Its SAF production at Paramount supplies major US airlines at Los Angeles International Airport and has been the primary source of US domestic SAF for the country’s most commercially active SAF market.
LanzaJet – The ATJ Technology Leader
LanzaJet is the world’s leading alcohol-to-jet SAF technology company, having spun out of LanzaTech with proprietary ATJ conversion technology. Its Freedom Pines facility in Soperton, Georgia, is the world’s first commercial-scale ATJ SAF plant, producing sustainable aviation fuel from ethanol. LanzaJet’s technology is being licensed to IOCL for the Panipat ATJ plant scheduled for 2028 – one of the most commercially significant India-USA clean energy technology transfer arrangements in the aviation fuel space.
Gevo – The Isobutanol Pioneer
Gevo produces ATJ SAF from isobutanol derived from corn, with a lifecycle carbon intensity that can be close to carbon neutral when the full agricultural and conversion value chain is managed using renewable energy. Its Net-Zero 1 facility in South Dakota represents one of the most ambitious integrated SAF production concepts – combining SAF production with renewable energy, water recycling, and soil carbon sequestration in the surrounding agricultural land.
Shell Aviation and BP
Both Shell and BP are active SAF traders and blenders, supplying SAF to airlines at major international airports through their existing aviation fuel supply infrastructure. Their market positions as dominant conventional jet fuel suppliers give them structural advantages in SAF distribution – the same pipelines, storage tanks, and hydrant fueling systems serve both conventional and SAF-blended fuel.
Honeywell UOP – The Process Technology Provider
Honeywell UOP is the world’s leading provider of refinery process technology and catalysts for HEFA SAF production. Its Eco-fining technology – a HEFA process licensor – underpins the conversion of dozens of refineries globally to SAF production capability. For Indian refineries seeking to enter SAF production, Honeywell UOP’s technology licensing is one of the two or three primary routes to HEFA capability alongside Axens and Haldor Topsoe.
SkyNRG – The Distribution and Sourcing Specialist
SkyNRG is a specialist SAF sourcing and supply company – one of the first pure-play SAF trading organizations – that aggregates demand from airlines, structures long-term supply agreements with producers, and manages the certification and documentation required for CORSIA and ReFuelEU Aviation compliance. Its market model represents the emerging SAF trading infrastructure that connects producers and airline buyers in a market where direct bilateral relationships between individual producers and individual airlines are commercially inefficient.
Praj Industries – India’s Technology Champion
Praj’s unique position in India’s SAF ecosystem – combining ethanol distillery technology, HEFA process expertise, ATJ technology through the Axens partnership, and 2G cellulosic ethanol capability – makes it the most comprehensively positioned SAF technology company in South Asia. Its demonstration of both bio-isobutanol-to-jet and bio-ethanol-to-jet at Praj Matrix gives it commercial technology credentials that no other Indian company currently possesses.
The Feedstock Economics – India’s Specific Advantage and Challenge
India’s SAF feedstock landscape is one of the most complex and commercially interesting of any major aviation market – combining genuine advantages in ethanol surplus and agricultural residue availability with genuine constraints in used cooking oil supply.
Used Cooking Oil – The Immediate But Constrained Feedstock
UCO is the feedstock of choice for India’s first generation of SAF production at IOCL Panipat, BPCL Mumbai, and MRPL Mangalore. It is already certified under ISCC CORSIA, already processed by India’s biodiesel industry at small scale, and available from India’s vast hotel, restaurant, and food processing sector through FSSAI’s RUCO program.
The constraint is volume. India collects approximately 5 to 7 lakh tonnes of UCO annually – enough for meaningful SAF production but insufficient to serve the full 1% mandate requirement from domestic supply alone. MRPL issued a tender for UCO in May 2026 – and given domestic supply limitations, Indian producers are also seeking feedstock from overseas. Imports are allowed if plants are located in free-trade zones and producing for export, although the government prefers to limit imports to support energy independence. India has been consistently procuring food waste oil from China for biodiesel production and could begin using these volumes for SAF production.
Ethanol – The Structural Surplus Opportunity
India’s E20 achievement – described in detail in our Biofuel Industry India 2027 article – has created an ethanol production ecosystem that may already be generating supply in excess of domestic blending program requirements as flex-fuel vehicles are introduced more gradually than originally anticipated. The April 24, 2026 ATF amendment that formally allows ATJ SAF using ethanol creates a direct commercial pathway for India’s existing ethanol surplus to be redirected into higher-value SAF production rather than being stored or sold at lower prices. At India’s structural ethanol cost advantage relative to international markets, the ATJ route offers a uniquely competitive production economics for Indian SAF that could make India one of the lowest-cost ATJ SAF producers in the world by 2030.
Agricultural Residues – The 2G Frontier
India produces 120 to 160 million metric tonnes of biomass annually. The 2G cellulosic ethanol pathway – demonstrated at IOCL Panipat using paddy straw – can produce ethanol from this residue, which then feeds the ATJ SAF conversion process. This pathway uses agricultural waste that would otherwise be burned, turning an air pollution problem into a premium clean aviation fuel. The IOCL-Praj 2G ETJ pathway specifically targets this feedstock sequence – paddy straw to cellulosic ethanol to jet fuel – as India’s most scalable long-term SAF production route.
The Investment and Business Opportunity – Segment by Segment
SAF’s commercial ecosystem creates distinct, immediately actionable opportunities across multiple business segments – each relevant to different types of companies evaluating this market.
For refinery operators and process engineers: The conversion of existing refinery hydrotreating units to HEFA SAF production is the fastest route to commercial SAF output. IOCL Panipat, BPCL Mumbai, and MRPL demonstrate the model in India. For any refinery operator with existing hydrotreating capacity and access to UCO or tallow feedstock, the ISCC CORSIA certification pathway – IOCL achieved it in August 2025, BPCL in May 2026 – provides a template that can be replicated at other facilities within 12 to 18 months.
For technology licensors and process equipment companies: HEFA technology from Honeywell UOP, Axens, and Haldor Topsoe; ATJ technology from LanzaJet and Axens; FT synthesis technology from Velocys and Johnson Matthey; and PtL technology from Sunfire and Haldor Topsoe are all actively sought by Indian and international refinery operators seeking to enter SAF production. The 140-plus SAF projects currently underway globally as of early 2026 represent a sustained technology licensing and equipment supply pipeline.
For feedstock logistics and aggregation companies: UCO collection, quality testing, certification, and logistics is a genuine supply chain gap in India’s SAF ecosystem. Building an organized, ISCC-certified UCO supply chain – connecting hotels, restaurants, food processors, and industrial fryers to SAF production facilities through reliable collection, storage, and transport infrastructure – is a commercially valuable service that the SAF mandate creates structured demand for.
For certification and advisory companies: ISCC CORSIA certification is the gateway to selling SAF into the international market. The documentation, lifecycle assessment, and audit requirements of CORSIA certification are specialised and commercially valuable services. SAF carbon intensity calculation, feedstock sustainability verification, and chain of custody documentation are all services in active demand from Indian producers seeking to access international airline markets.
For airlines: Structured, long-term SAF purchase agreements at defined prices – de-risking procurement against spot price volatility – are the commercial structure that enables both India’s 2027 mandate compliance and international CORSIA obligation management. Airlines that lock in SAF supply agreements now, before the mandatory phase demand creates supply competition in 2027, will face less price pressure than those who wait.
For investors: SAF projects with binding offtake agreements, ISCC CORSIA certification, and credible feedstock supply chains are among the cleanest climate investment propositions available in the Indian energy sector – combining regulatory demand certainty, government policy alignment, and genuine carbon reduction impact in a single project structure.
The Challenges – What Every Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Company Must Navigate
The cost premium remains the industry’s central challenge. SAF costs 2 to 5 times more than conventional jet fuel, depending on the production pathway and feedstock. Airlines are required by mandate to use SAF but cannot in most markets pass the full cost premium to passengers without losing competitive traffic to carriers flying from non-mandate jurisdictions. Closing this cost gap requires a combination of scale-driven production cost reduction, carbon price mechanisms that increase the effective cost of conventional jet fuel, and government support mechanisms like the UK’s revenue certainty mechanism and the US IRA tax credit.
Feedstock scarcity is the near-term supply constraint. UCO and animal tallow – the feedstocks for existing HEFA production – are limited waste streams. Scaling SAF to 5%, 10%, and ultimately 70% of aviation fuel requires feedstock diversification well beyond current HEFA sources, which requires either very large-scale agricultural residue gasification, synthetic fuel production from renewable electricity and captured CO2, or the development of energy crops specifically for SAF production – each of which carries its own sustainability, cost, and land-use considerations.
Certification complexity creates market entry barriers. ISCC CORSIA certification, ASTM D7566 qualification for new production pathways, ReFuelEU Aviation lifecycle assessment requirements, and ICAO’s CORSIA eligible fuel requirements all impose compliance costs and timelines that small and first-time SAF producers find challenging to navigate without specialist advisory support.
India’s feedstock import dependence – with India already importing food waste oil from China for biodiesel and needing to import UCO for near-term SAF production – creates a supply chain vulnerability that the government explicitly wants to address through domestic feedstock development rather than import dependence. Companies with solutions for scaling India’s domestic UCO collection, agricultural residue logistics, or energy crop cultivation infrastructure address this vulnerability directly.
Why World Green Energy & Sustainability Expo (WGES 2027) Is the Platform for India’s SAF Industry
India’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market is entering precisely the phase where industry events matter most – the transition from policy framework to commercial procurement, from pilot production to mandate compliance, and from domestic demonstration to international market access.
World Green Energy & Sustainability Expo (WGES 2027)’s SAF Association partner connection places it directly at the institutional centre of India’s organized SAF industry – providing exhibitors in the SAF value chain with access to the association’s member network across Indian airlines, refineries, technology companies, and government stakeholders simultaneously.
For SAF technology licensors targeting India’s 35,000-tonne IOCL Panipat initial capacity and the much larger pipeline of HEFA and ATJ projects that follow the mandate’s 1% to 2% to 5% escalation, for UCO aggregators and feedstock logistics companies building India’s domestic SAF supply chain, for certification bodies and advisory firms helping Indian producers achieve ISCC CORSIA and ASTM D7566 compliance, for international SAF producers seeking Indian airline offtake relationships, for process equipment companies targeting the capital expenditure program at IOCL, BPCL, MRPL, and the private sector SAF facilities that will follow them, and for investors evaluating India’s USD 70 to 85 billion long-term SAF infrastructure investment opportunity – World Green Energy & Sustainability Expo (WGES 2027) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat is where India’s SAF industry is taking shape.
Gujarat, the World Green Energy & Sustainability Expo (WGES 2027) host state, is directly connected to this story through BPCL’s refinery network, the Deendayal Port Green Hydrogen Hub’s relevance to PtL SAF production, and the state’s dominant position in India’s ethanol production ecosystem – the feedstock that the April 2026 ATJ amendment has just opened as the primary domestic SAF production pathway.
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