Japan’s Odakyu Railway joins Saffaire Sky’s SAF initiative

Odakyu Electric Railway announced it has joined a initiative to boost the domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Japan by signing a memorandum of understanding with JGC Holdings, Revo International and SAFFAIRE SKY ENERGY.

The collaboration aims to recycle used cooking oil (UCO) collected primarily from the Odakyu Group’s operations into SAF.

Starting April 1st, Odakyu will begin supplying approximately 85,000 liters of UCO annually gathered from 50 locations, including Odakyu OX supermarkets and Meidai Hakone Soba restaurants.

This supply of waste cooking oil is expected to be converted into roughly 70,000 liters of SAF per year, contributing to an estimated reduction of 200 tons of CO2 emissions annually compared to conventional jet fuel.

Odakyu plans to further increase its collection capacity by identifying and developing new sources of UCO along its railway lines.

This partnership supports Japan’s first large-scale SAF manufacturing project, spearheaded by SAFFAIRE SKY ENERGY – a joint venture established in 2022 by JGC Holdings, Revo International, and Cosmo Oil.

Their facility, located at the Cosmo Oil Sakai Refinery in Osaka Prefecture, completed construction in December 2024. It is designed to produce approximately 30,000 kiloliters of SAF annually, exclusively from domestically sourced UCO. Supply to airlines is anticipated to commence this month, April 2025.

The SAF produced by this project, which has received subsidies from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), boasts International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC CORSIA).