The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) has intensified its efforts to promote sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) development in Southeast Asia by showcasing ethanol as a scalable feedstock for alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) SAF production at the MyAERO Sustainable Aviation Fuel Symposium in Malaysia.
The council led a delegation of government officials from Indonesia and Vietnam to the symposium in Putrajaya, which brought together more than 400 participants from over 20 countries to discuss strategies for expanding SAF production across the Asia-Pacific region, Ethanol Producer Magazine reported.
USGBC Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Oceania Caleb Wurth said the event provided an opportunity to highlight alcohol-to-jet technology as an important pathway for increasing SAF production alongside the widely used hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) route.
While HEFA is expected to remain the dominant SAF production technology in the near term, Wurth said its long-term growth could be limited by the availability of sustainable lipid feedstocks. Ethanol, he said, offers a readily available and globally traded alternative that can help meet rising SAF demand while supporting aviation decarbonisation.
During a panel discussion on SAF feedstocks, Wurth highlighted the U.S. ethanol industry’s ability to supply sustainable feedstock for expanding global SAF production.
The symposium also enabled policymakers from Indonesia and Vietnam—both of which are developing national SAF roadmaps—to engage in discussions on ethanol’s potential role in their aviation fuel strategies. The council said these technical exchanges are aimed at ensuring ethanol remains part of future SAF policy frameworks in the region.
USGBC Regional Ethanol Consultant Kent Yeo said growing demand for low-carbon aviation fuels across the Asia-Pacific region will require multiple sustainable feedstock options as air travel continues to expand.
Regional Ethanol Consultant Aaron Goh added that although countries are seeking to maximise domestic feedstock production for SAF, no single feedstock will be sufficient to meet future demand. Ethanol can complement local feedstocks and support large-scale SAF production through reliable global supplies, he said.
