South Korea’s Chungnam province said it will move ahead with a demonstration project to produce synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) from captured carbon dioxide, after the scheme cleared a national preliminary feasibility review.
E-SAF is a synthetic jet fuel made by combining captured carbon dioxide with green hydrogen using renewable electricity. It is designed to cut aviation emissions by recycling carbon rather than using fossil fuels.
The KRW 140.2 billion (US$95 million) project in the coastal city of Boryeong aims to convert CO2 emissions from a local coal-fired power plant into e-SAF using carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology, which captures industrial CO2 and turns it into valuable products such as fuels and chemicals.
Led by LG Chem, the Boryeong project will involve the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), HD Hyundai Oilbank and Korea Midland Power. The partners plan to capture CO2 from Korea Midland Power’s Boryeong plant, combine it with hydrogen and synthesise it chemically into e-SAF. Pilot output is set at 700 tonnes of e-SAF annually, using around 4,000 tonnes of CO2.
Chungnam authorities said the site is located next to one of the country’s largest wet CO2 capture facilities, ensuring a stable feedstock supply, adding that LG Chem already holds what the province described as “world-class” CO2 conversion technologies, including direct and indirect electrochemical methods.
Plant design and permitting will proceed next year, with construction of the demonstration facility scheduled for 2027 and completion targeted for 2030. If the pilot succeeds, full industrialisation could begin in 2034, generating an estimated KRW 490 billion (US$333 million) in annual economic impact, the province said.
“The feasibility approval would help the province transition from one of South Korea’s highest-emitting regions into a base for the country’s emerging e-SAF industry,” said Chungnam’s industry and economy chief Ahn Ho on Monday.
The Ministry of Science and ICT’s national research and development (R&D) evaluation committee approved the feasibility study last week, allowing the project to progress under the ministry’s flagship CCU “mega-project”. The programme is intended to scale up carbon capture and conversion technologies to support South Korea’s net zero targets.
South Korea recently announced a 2035 target to halve emissions from 2018 levels and is developing policies for a “more efficient power mix” in which renewables take a large share, with nuclear as a complementary source and gas as an emergency backup.
The country’s climate minister Kim Sung-hwan also said at the COP30 climate talks that South Korea, which operates the world’s seventh-largest coal fleet, would stop building new unabated coal plants and gradually retire existing ones. Out of the country’s 61 coal-fired power plants, 40 are already scheduled to close by 2040, Kim told delegates in Belém.
Global interest in e-SAF
Global demand for sustainable aviation fuel is expected to surge as governments tighten aviation climate rules.
The European Union will require airlines to start using SAF blends from 2025 under its ReFuelEU Aviation law, with a dedicated e-fuel sub-target beginning in 2030. The International Civil Aviation Organization has adopted an aspirational goal for a 5 per cent global emissions reduction from cleaner aviation fuels by 2030, although it does not impose binding blending mandates.
Major airlines and energy companies have begun investing in small-scale demonstration plants, but current production remains tiny relative to demand. Most e-SAF available today comes from bio-based feedstocks, which experts say cannot meet global needs alone because of limited supply.
Governments are offering financial support to accelerate deployment; in the United States, for example, the Inflation Reduction Act provides tax credits of up to US$1.75 per gallon for cleaner aviation fuels, helping narrow the cost gap with conventional jet fuel.
In Asia, Japan has launched subsidy schemes to help airlines and fuel producers develop e-SAF supply chains and meet the country’s target of replacing 10 per cent of aviation fuel with e-SAF by 2030.
