The ASEAN region has the potential to produce up to 8.5 million barrels of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per day by 2050, a new report has suggested.
The ASEAN SAF 2050 Outlook report was developed by GHD with support from Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Trade and Investment Facility for Development, in partnership with the Institute of Public Administrators of Canada, Boeing, and the ASEAN Secretaritat.
It explored potential supply and demand scenarios across Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as export markets including Japan, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea.
All the countries featured in the report could potentially have sufficient capacity to position themselves as net SAF exporters, with Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand having the ‘most abundant feedstock’ to support SAF production, and Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines having the most cost-efficient distribution networks for export.
‘Growing rapidly’
“Southeast Asia’s commercial aviation industry is growing rapidly to serve the region’s expanding economies and meet demand from passengers and for air cargo,” commented Sharmine Tan, Boeing’s regional sustainability lead for Southeast Asia. “In addition to adding more fuel-efficient airplanes to the fleet, increasing Southeast Asia’s supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will further enable responsible growth.”
Growth in production is likely to be met by an equivalent growth in demand, according to the report, with SAF demand in ASEAN set to grow from around 15,000 barrels per day in 2030, to more than 700,000 barrels per day by 2050.
The report calls for collaborative efforts across ASEAN economies to scale up production capacity, deploy cost-effective technologies, and develop regional trade frameworks to align supply with growing demand.
‘An exciting juncture’
“We are at an exciting juncture with respect to SAF because ASEAN has an abundance of agricultural and forestry waste that could serve as low-cost feedstock, narrowing the premium between HEFA-derived SAF and jet fuel,” added Sachin Narang, GHD’s executive advisor – Energy and Infrastructure.
“At the same time, policy intervention, overall targeted interventions, scaling, and innovation can narrow the cost gap for alternative SAF pathways over the medium to long term.” Read more here.
