Engineers India chief hopes for policy revision to make sustainable aviation fuel affordable

The state-owned engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) consultancy Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is eyeing to develop cost-competitive sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production towards increasing its presence in the biofuels sector.

The company is working closely on SAF technologies with the Dehradun-based Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP-CSIR) and is keenly awaiting the successful rollout of its project with Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.

“As far as EIL is concerned, we are looking at the implementation of this first project at MRPL which will showcase the commercialisation of the technology as that is the most important challenge. We have to create a scale that can be proven to everyone for then marketing it will become a lot easier,” said chairman & managing director Vartika Shukla.

Shukla made these observations during a recent media interaction.

EIL bagged the contract for the basic engineering design project, detailed feasibility report and pre-project activities for MRPL’s bio-ATF plan in November last year. The facility utilising non-edible oils and used cooking oil as feedstock is the first of its kind in India and is based on technology developed by EIL in collaboration with CSIR-IIP.

SAF represents a broad category of fuels derived from non-fossil sources, including advanced biofuels and electrofuels (e-fuels), offering a sustainable alternative to conventional jet fuel also known as aviation turbine fuel (ATF). However, depending on whether it is produced from recycled waste or synthetic fuel, SAF can be up to five times costlier than standard jet fuel, according to data shared by the global association of airlines the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Talking about the National Biofuels Policy, Shukla said the lower production cost of particularly 1G ethanol made blending it with gasoline competitive. However, that wasn’t the case with SAF.

“Either there will have to be some kind of viability gap funding (VGF) or a capex subsidy that may come after suitable corrections to the SAF policy to encourage investments,” observed Shukla.

“By that time the technology may also attain maturity to help reduce the cost of production, the cost of investments as also help in the realisation of putting a number to the sustainable part of the fuel to thereby benefit the industry,” she added.

EIL which currently derives 60 per cent of its revenues from the oil & gas business is looking at expanding into new business lines ahead of the ongoing transition to new and renewable sources of energy peaking in the future.

The company is also firming up plans to enhance R&D on green hydrogen generation to implement projects on behalf of clients.