Joint Development of New Catalyst for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Production

March 27, 2026 JFE Engineering Corporation University of Toyama JFE Engineering Corporation (President: Kazumi Fukuda, Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) and the University of Toyama (President: Shigeru Saito, Headquarters: Toyama City, hereinafter "University of Toyama") have jointly developed a new catalyst capable of producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is considered the most promising means for decarbonizing the aviation sector. This new catalyst is used in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, which is necessary to produce SAF from a mixed gas of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2). By enhancing the performance of the catalyst developed by Professor Noritatsu Tsubaki of the University of Toyama's Graduate School of Science and Engineering, the new catalyst achieves a high performance with a yield of liquid hydrocarbons suitable for SAF of over 50%, enabling a highly productive SAF synthesis process. Conventional FT synthesis catalysts require the resulting hydrocarbons to be converted into carbon chain lengths suitable for SAF via hydrocracking. Including losses during hydrocracking, the yield of SAF remains at approximately 25%. In contrast, FT synthesis using this newly developed catalyst eliminates the need for a hydrocracking plant—which requires significant capital investment—and the need for new hydrogen input. This not only significantly reduces equipment costs but also allows for the production of SAF with more than double the yield of conventional processes using only the FT synthesis step. Currently, SAF production globally relies primarily on waste cooking oil. However, due to the limited supply of edible oil resources, diversification into biomass and waste such as municipal solid waste is underway. In the long term, synthetic fuels produced by synthesizing CO2 captured from power plants and factories with hydrogen derived from renewable energy are expected to play a crucial role. FT synthesis is essential for producing SAF from these feedstocks, and this new catalyst will be utilized in that process. JFE Engineering and the University of Toyama will continue to further develop the SAF synthesis process using this catalyst and contribute to the realization of decarbonization in the aviation sector through the expansion of SAF adoption.