IndianOil’s Panipat refinery has received international certification to convert used cooking oil from homes and restaurants into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), company chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said. The refinery has obtained the ICAO’s ISCC CORSIA certification, developed under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, to produce SAF from used cooking oil, PTI reported. “We are the only company in the country to get this certification,” Sahney said. “The refinery will start producing some 35,000 tonnes per annum of SAF from the end of the calendar year.” According to him, this production capacity will be sufficient to meet India’s requirement of blending 1 per cent SAF with conventional jet fuel by 2027. Under government rules, international airlines will need to use 1 per cent SAF-blended aviation turbine fuel (ATF) starting that year. SAF can be mixed with ATF up to 50 per cent. Collection agencies will source used cooking oil from large establishments such as hotels, restaurants, and companies including Haldiram, and supply it to the Panipat refinery. The facility will process the oil into SAF. “There is a large amount of such oil available in the country. The only challenge is collection. While it is easy to collect from large hotel chains, a solution needs to be found for collection from small users, including households,” Sahney added. He explained that SAF produced at Panipat has “undergone rigorous assessment for lifecycle carbon emissions and traceability, creating a clear pathway for Indian airlines to integrate certified SAF into their operations.”Other initiatives IndianOil also commissioned a Rs 5,000 crore Butyl Acrylate (BA) unit at its Koyali refinery in Gujarat, used in paint manufacturing. The 1,50,000 tonnes per year facility is the second in India after BPCL’s Kochi unit. “The paint industry is growing at a CAGR of 13-14 per cent, and the bulk of the raw material they use is imported. In July, we commissioned the BA unit at Koyali refinery, which will eliminate the need to import, saving foreign exchange for the country,” Sahney said. He added that together with BPCL’s Kochi facility, the new unit can replace 80-90 per cent of India’s BA imports. Sahney also announced that L&T has been selected to construct the nation’s largest green hydrogen facility at Panipat. “The 10,000 tonnes a year green hydrogen unit at the Panipat refinery will be ready in 27 months,” he said. The fuel will replace grey hydrogen currently used at refineries, lowering the carbon footprint of operations. Green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using renewable energy, emits only water vapour. Despite high global production costs, Sahney noted that India’s comparatively low-cost renewable power keeps the price under USD 4 per kg. “IndianOil remains agile and nimble in product innovation and meeting fast-changing energy dynamics. A lot of other innovations are in the works, which will be unveiled when they mature,” Sahney said. He added that IndianOil’s SAF certification sets a benchmark for other refiners to increase production, helping the aviation sector lower emissions and supporting India’s 2070 net-zero target.
