India’s Praj Industries launch SAF demonstration facility

Bio-based technologies energy provider Praj Industries announced that it has launched sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demonstration facility at its R&D Center in Pune, India.

“Inauguration of SAF demonstration facility is yet another milestone in Praj’s pursuit of energy transition through bioeconomy. Recently, we collaborated with IOCL and AirAsia India to successfully fly India’s first commercial passenger flight with 1% SAF produced at our bench scale setup that was blended with aviation turbine fuel (ATF),” said Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, executive chairman, Praj Industries.

The company said that it has developed a proprietary technology to process agricultural feedstocks for the production of SAF using the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) pathway that can be blended with ATF.

The Indian government has set a target to operationalize 1000 UDAN routes and to revive 100 airports by 2024.

India is already the third largest and fastest-growing civil aviation market in the world. Praj Industries said that the low-carbon SAF has a significant role in helping India achieve its net zero goal targets by 2070.

 “This facility demonstrating indigenously developed technology for production of SAF is a testament to India’s rising prowess in the Global Bioeconomy. Utilization of captive agri-resources for the production of biofuels such as SAF is aligned with the government’s goals towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat and will go a long way in helping India achieve its energy self-reliance by 2047. I compliment the visionary leadership of Dr. Pramod Chaudhari and Team Praj for this exciting development,” said India’s minister for petroleum & natural gas and housing & urban affairs Shri. Hardeep Singh Puri who launched the demo plant.