Jet Zero Australia closed a Series C funding round of 30 million Australian dollars (about US$21.6 million) to advance its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in Townsville, Queensland. Airbus and Qantas took part in the announcement alongside the entry of POSCO International, from South Korea, as a new investor. Japan\u2019s Idemitsu had already joined in the previous round.<\/p>\n
The Australian producer also reported that it received final development approval from the Queensland government for the Townsville site, a key step for Project Ulysses, its Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ) plant that will convert bioethanol derived from agricultural by-products into SAF and renewable diesel.<\/p>\n
Lee Sung Su, vice president of POSCO\u2019s industrial materials division, stressed that what convinced the Korean company was not the numbers but the vision: \u201cAustralia producing its own aviation fuel, securing its own supply and growing it together with local farmers while generating jobs in the regions. We believed in that vision and want to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Forshaw, Airbus\u2019 chief representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, welcomed the closing and the work of the team led by Ed Mason and Mac Irvine. He noted that, with consultations under way on the Australian government\u2019s policy frameworks (particularly demand incentives), SAF production is one step closer. Jet Zero thanked Airbus and Qantas for their support in completing the round.<\/p>\n
With this transaction, total investment in Jet Zero exceeds 80 million Australian dollars (about US$57.6 million). According to reports, the company\u2019s valuation could approach 500 million Australian dollars (around US$360 million). The round, which was managed by Barrenjoey, also allows POSCO to explore fuel and feedstock offtake opportunities.<\/p>\n
Project Ulysses, located in the Cleveland Bay Industrial Park within the Townsville State Development Area, aims to produce up to 113 million liters of low-carbon liquid fuels per year (around 90% SAF, with the remainder renewable diesel), with production start-up estimated for 2028-2029. It will use LanzaJet\u2019s AtJ technology to process some 183 million liters of ethanol a year, and about 1,000 jobs are expected at peak construction plus more than 100 operational positions.<\/p>\n
The project has already received public backing from ARENA (AUD 9 million, about US$6.5 million) and the Queensland government (AUD 5 million, about US$3.6 million) for the FEED study, in addition to previous investment from Qantas, Airbus and Idemitsu.<\/p>\n
Qantas has committed to making SAF 10% of its jet fuel consumption by 2030, equivalent to around 600 million liters. Fiona Messent, Qantas\u2019 chief sustainability officer, said domestic SAF production supports energy security, creates jobs and helps decarbonization.<\/p>\n
Australia is seeking to develop a sovereign SAF industry amid a global supply shortage, competition for HEFA feedstocks and oil price volatility. The sector estimates that a local industry could generate tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in added value, with a strong regional impact in Queensland. The Townsville plant is designed to supply airports in the north, such as Townsville and Cairns, and to strengthen fuel security in a strategic area.<\/p>\n
The final investment decision (FID) and the demand frameworks the federal government is consulting on still need to be completed. With planning approval in hand and fresh capital from aviation, energy and manufacturing players across Asia-Pacific, Jet Zero is positioning itself as one of Australia\u2019s most advanced AtJ projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jet Zero Australia closed a Series C funding round of 30 million Australian dollars (about US$21.6 million) to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[90,27759,27760,27761,1935,9339],"class_list":["post-43641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-airbus","tag-airbus","tag-jet-zero-australia","tag-posco-international","tag-project-ulysses","tag-qantas","tag-saf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}