February 18, 2025 [SAF Investor]- Japanese firms Nippon Paper Industries, Sumitomo Corporation and Green Earth Institute (GEI) have announced an agreement to setup a joint venture company Morisora Bio Energy to produce ethanol to ensure steady supply of raw material for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.

The three firms said that JV will construct a semi-commercial plant at Nippon Paper’s Iwanuma Mill in Miyagi Prefecture.

Using sustainable forest resources from the Tohoku region, such as wood scraps from sawmills, GEI’s bioethanol production process will be used to produce over 1,000 kL of bioethanol annually starting in 2027.

Subsequently, with the full-scale introduction and adoption of SAF mandate in Japan anticipated around 2030, the joint venture is targeting the operation of a commercial plant capable of producing tens of thousands of kiloliters of bioethanol and biochemicals per year.

The JV builds upon an agreement between the three companies when they joined hands on a project to explore bioethanol production in 2023.

The project, with the goal to promote and expand SAF usage and availability, was in collaboration with all-Japan initiative “Act for Sky,” aiming for widespread SAF production.

Additionally, the project has been selected as a pilot project within the SAF Certification Task Group of the Public-Private Council to Promote the Introduction of SAF.

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