Two Milestone Developments for China’s SAF Sector
SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) is widely regarded as a promising and lucrative business in China. We have witnessed many ground-breaking ceremony of industrial scale SAF projects in the 1st half of 2026. Moreover, another two milestone developments were announced this week which indicate that China has entered a new stage in both SAF project development and technology innovation.
On June 16, during the 5th Tashkent International Investment Forum, Sinopec Ningbo Engineering Co., a subsidiary of Sinopec Engineering Group (SEG), formally signed a FEED contract with Allied Biofuels FE LLC for a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in Uzbekistan.
Photo: the signing ceremony
The project is Central Asia’s first large-scale, fully integrated bio-aviation fuel complex, covering biomass feedstock processing, green hydrogen production, sustainable aviation fuel, power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF), and green diesel production. With a total investment of approximately US$6.1 billion, the project will be supported by large-scale photovoltaic, green hydrogen, and energy storage facilities. Once operational, it will produce sustainable aviation fuel, e-SAF, green diesel, and other green fuels at scale. The products will be supplied not only to the local Uzbek market but also exported overseas.
Sinopec Engineering Group will leverage its technical and engineering expertise in green refining, biofuels, and green hydrogen to provide an integrated, tailor-made design solution for the project. The signing marks an important breakthrough for the company in expanding its overseas low-carbon and new energy business, and will help support the clean energy transition in Central Asia.
On June 16, 2026, Shanghai Carbonology broke ground on its kiloton-scale direct air capture (DAC) to sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) project at the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in Ningxia.
Photo: the ground-breaking ceremony, source: ChinaNews
Only five months after the completion of its 100-tonne demonstration process line in Shanghai Lingang on January 23, 2026, Shanghai Carbonology has advanced to the kiloton-scale industrial pilot stage.
Zhang Hongxi, co-founder and general manager of Shanghai Carbonology, said the project will verify the stability and economic feasibility of DAC-to-SAF technology and pave the way for larger-scale production projects. The company plans to launch its first 10,000-tonne commercial e-SAF project in 2027.