Danish energy technology group Topsoe announces third SAF collaboration in China

Denmark’s Topsoe is to partner with China’s Zhejiang Jianglan Bio-Energy Technology Company to help produce up to 300,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel per year at a new facility scheduled to open in December 2026. The Chinese company will start construction this September of a production plant on Zhoushan Island, near the mainland coastal city of Ningbo, using Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology to convert waste fats, oils and greases into SAF. The fuel initially will be exported to Europe, though supplies will increase within China as local demand grows. The project is Topsoe’s third in China, and its second there this year. In January, it was chosen by Chuangui New Energy in the country’s south-west to support production of SAF and renewable diesel from used cooking oil. Topsoe’s first SAF deal in China was signed in April last year with Hongkun Biomass Fuel.

The three projects represent targeted contributions to the dual, or double, carbon goals in which China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, is aspiring to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060, through measures including significant reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

Zhejiang Jianglan, is part of the Jianglan Energy Group, an industrial conglomerate focused on research, innovation and industrial applications of bioenergy, with the ambition of becoming a benchmark organisation for green energy transition. It operates subsidiaries specialising in activities including energy creation through repurposing waste or other renewable resources, and bioenergy research.

Hu Bowei, Chairman of Zhejiang Jianglan, said the Zhoushan SAF project was “a closed-loop full industrial chain of feedstock collection and efficient conversion,” combining the company’s feedstock collection and storage capabilities.

“We are also integrating with the oil and gas industrial cluster in the Zhoushan area of the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone to cultivate a new growth engine for green fuels,” he added, highlighting strong support from the Bank of China for the green energy sector. “Together, all parties aim to create a world-class, domestically leading SAF production base.”

Through its HydroFlex technology, Topsoe provides processes to purify feedstocks including vegetable oils, animal fats, used cooking oil and biomass for stand-alone production of renewable fuels or co-processing in multi-product refineries.

Zhejiang Jianglan will use Topsoe’s technology, licensing, technical expertise, engineering services and proprietary catalysts for conversion of its feedstock to SAF.

“Scaling SAF supply is essential to decarbonise aviation,” said Topsoe’s Chief Commercial Officer, Elena Scaltritti. “Our partnership with Zhejiang Jianglan marks another key step in building out SAF supply and at the same time supporting evolving energy needs globally.”

When the Zhoushan SAF plant is fully operating, Scaltritti said Topsoe’s technology is expected to help avoid more than 698,000 tonnes of CO2e, or the equivalent volume of emissions that could be expected from flying 2 million passengers between Beijing and Copenhagen.

Just months earlier, in January, Topsoe was also selected by Guangxi Free Trade Zone Chuangui Lingang New Energy Company (Chuangui New Energy) to support another project, this one to deliver both SAF and renewable diesel.

The project, in Qinzhou City, south-west China, reached Final Investment Decision in December, and is also targeting December 2026 to commence operations.

In this project, Chuangui New Energy will use Topsoe’s licensing and engineering design services and technologies, including the HydroFlex process, plus proprietary equipment and catalysts enabling the production of SAF and renewable diesel, initially by converting used cooking oil.

“As one of the important means to promote the transformation of energy structure and achieve the goal of ‘double carbon’ in China, the biomass new energy industry has great prospects for development,” stated He Xiong, Chairman of Chuangui New Energy.

He said the company was committed to “energy-green low-carbon transformation and sustainable development,” broadly to achieve national sustainable energy goals and specifically to progress production of biomass liquid fuels using the Topsoe conversion technology.

At full capacity, the plant is expected to process 300,000 tonnes of feedstock per year into SAF and renewable diesel, which Topsoe expects will avoid as much as 800,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions.

In its first Chinese SAF agreement last year, Topsoe partnered with Guangxi Hongkun Biomass Fuel Company, again using its HydroFlex technology to convert biomass feedstock to fuel at a new production plant in the Qinzhou Port Area Free Trade Pilot Zone in Guangxi. This project is also expected to process 300,000 tonnes of feedstock per year, with SAF production scheduled to begin in the first few months of 2026.

Jiaming Liu, General Manager of Guangxi Honkun Biomass, said Topsoe would provide his company with strong support for bio-aviation fuel production and the two companies would continue their collaboration on green methanol, ammonia and hydrogen.

Update May 15 :

Topsoe technology has now been selected for a fourth Chinese SAF facility, to be located in the city of Shijazhuang’s Shenze Economy Development Zone, Hebei province. Operated by Zhongneng Yida New Energy Company, the facility will produce 400,000 tonnes of SAF annually, which is planned to be exported to European and local Chinese markets. Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2025, with operations to commence in the first half of 2027.

Photo: Airbus

Tony Harrington

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