From Frying Pans to Fuel Tanks: Japan Ramps Up Used Cooking Oil Recycling for Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The Japanese government has set a goal to replace 10% of its aviation fuel with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by the end of 2030 and is now launching a public-private partnership program calling on households and businesses to recycle used cooking oil to refine the environmentally friendly fuel.

According to a Reuters report, Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, estimates it will need about 1.7 million kiloliters of SAF by 2030. Faced with this huge demand, the Japanese government hopes to achieve self-sufficiency as much as possible by recycling used cooking oil, a relatively inexpensive raw material for SAF.

As the war in the Middle East squeezes global energy supplies, energy costs for resource-scarce Japan have risen. Facing raw material shortages and inadequate infrastructure, Japan's current domestic SAF production is only 30,000 kiloliters, accounting for just 0.3% of total jet fuel consumption. ANA and JAL, Japan's two major airlines, admitted at a joint SAF press conference in May this year, "We are facing a harsher reality than expected."

Now, the Japanese government has launched a public-private partnership called "Fry to Fly," joining forces with more than 300 supermarkets, companies, and other organizations to recycle used cooking oil to push towards the goal of 1.7 million kiloliters of SAF by 2030. The key driving force of this plan relies on the full support of the public.

Japanese homemaker Maki Watanabe is actively recycling leftover cooking oil, and her efforts are part of a nationwide push to accelerate SAF production.

"It takes an enormous amount of oil to fuel airplanes, so I hope we can collect more," said the cooking enthusiast, who donates about 40 liters of used cooking oil annually.

This trend of collecting used cooking oil highlights the stark challenges faced by the aviation industry, one of the world's main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, as it strives to reduce its carbon footprint.

A Reuters survey last year showed that only about one-fifth of the SAF projects announced by the global aviation industry were actually implemented, with high costs having long been a stumbling block to SAF's widespread adoption.

However, if the 2030 SAF target is not met, refiners and airlines will face higher costs, as refiners may have to seek more expensive imported SAF or raw materials, and could even face fines, which would have a knock-on effect on airlines.

In countries that have passed laws to enforce SAF policies, such as the Southeast Asian aviation hub of Singapore, even a lower target of 1% for sustainable aviation fuel relies heavily on imported raw materials.

The Japanese government has indicated that operators must make a final investment decision by March next year in order to achieve mass production by 2030, making this a critical year for refiners' SAF strategies.

Major Japanese oil company ENEOS said that the amount of cooking oil it can collect is key to deciding whether to move forward with a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corp. The project is scheduled to produce up to 400,000 kiloliters of SAF after fiscal 2028. But the complex and expensive production process, from raw material collection, processing, and hydrogenation to distillation, means that entering SAF production comes with very high risks.

Engineering and construction firm JGC Holdings also said that a clearer demand outlook is needed to justify expanding production. JGC launched Japan's first commercial-scale SAF plant last year, a joint venture between JGC, major oil company Cosmo Energy, and biodiesel producer REVO International, with an annual capacity of about 30,000 kiloliters.

As the deadline approaches, the public-private supply chain plan is intensifying its implementation. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to commission more companies to raise public awareness and coordinate collection efforts to tap into the potential of used oil from Tokyo's 7.8 million households.

After collecting a meager 160 kiloliters of used oil in 2024, Tokyo distributed 13,000 plastic funnels with QR code recycling instructions in the previous fiscal year.

According to calculations by Saffaire Sky Energy, a joint venture between JGC and Cosmo cited by Reuters, 160 kiloliters of oil is enough to fly a Boeing 787 for only 17 hours. "If we don't start now, we won't make it by 2030," said Yasushi Sato, a Tokyo government official.

In response to this trend, tech giant Fujifilm began collecting waste oil from its employee cafeterias this year. At the same time, major retailers such as Aeon, Ito-Yokado, and 7-Eleven are also installing more collection bins in their stores.

However, UCO Japan, an industry alliance specializing in used oil recycling, points out that even if every drop of used cooking oil in the country were recycled, the total would only be 550,000 kiloliters, enough to meet only about 25% of the SAF needed by 2030.

Motoomi Suzuki, a researcher at the Norinchukin Research Institute, analyzed that since Japan has already exhausted almost all available used oil from the corporate sector, importing SAF is practically an unavoidable option until new technologies such as "ethanol-to-jet fuel" can be commercialized. "In this context, the goal [of replacing 10% of aviation fuel with SAF by the end of 2030] seems overly ambitious."

However, he believes that Japan's urgent need for domestic raw materials makes used cooking oil the only viable option in the short term.