By TOMOHIKO KANEKO/ Staff Writer
April 24, 2023 at 07:00 JST
Conveyor belt sushi chain Sushiro (Tomohiko Kaneko)
The operator of popular Japanese conveyor belt sushi chain Sushiro plans to shake up the industry by supplying its waste cooking oil for fried dishes on its menu to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Food & Life Companies Ltd. (F&LC) said it plans to work with other enterprises to supply cooking oil used at its restaurants nationwide.
In its April announcement, F&LC will start making the fuel in fiscal 2024 with the aim of providing a steady supply to Japanese airlines in 2025.
F&LC said it will be the first leading restaurant chain operator to provide waste cooking oil for the production of aviation fuel on a nationwide scale.
F&LC signed a basic agreement with plant contractor JGC Holdings Corp., Revo International Inc., which recycles used cooking oil, and SAF maker Saffaire Sky Energy in early April.
Oil waste generated from the cooking of French fries, tempura and other fried food will be recovered from the 680 outlets of Sushiro as well as the Sugidama “izakaya” Japanese-style gastro pub chain under the F&LC umbrella.
The company projected that 900,000 liters of waste cooking oil will be collected annually.
Revo International will be responsible for oil recovery, and JGC Holdings will have the task of transporting collected oil to an SAF production plant that is being built at the site of Cosmo Oil Co.’s Sakai Refinery in Osaka Prefecture.
Saffaire Sky Energy will produce 750,000 liters of SAF annually, according to plans drawn up by the four companies.
SAF produces less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than jet fuel made from petroleum. The government has set a goal of replacing 10 percent of fuel consumption by airlines in Japan with SAF by 2030.
Almost all SAF used in Japan currently originates from overseas. The proportion of domestically produced SAF is lower than 1 percent.
More than 100,000 tons of cooking oil waste is said to be exported from Japan each year. For this reason, there are growing calls to set up a supply chain to produce domestically made SAF.
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