HPCL sets-up SAF plant at Visakh Refinery

Aviation will need more innovation to become Greener

India’s energy major Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has commissioned a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) demonstration plant at its Visakh Refinery in Andhra Pradesh to help decarbonise the aviation sector. The new facility produces SAF by co-processing used cooking oil (UCO) in the refinery’s Full Conversion Hydrocracker Unit, leveraging existing refining infrastructure to enable cleaner fuel production.

HPCL said in statement, “The initiative integrates bio-feedstock up to ASTM-permitted limits using existing refinery infrastructure, producing SAF that meets aviation fuel quality standards. With a roadmap to produce 10 TMTPA of SAF from 2027, HPCL is advancing circular economy principles, waste-to-value solutions, and Bharat’s transition to low-carbon aviation.”

Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the initiative brings India closer to achieving its SAF blending targets of 1 per cent by 2027, 2 per cent by 2028 and 5 per cent by 2030. Highlighting the engineering achievement, the minister described the Visakh Refinery facility as a “masterpiece of indigenous engineering”.

The SAF plant houses three LC-Max reactors, each weighing 2,200 metric tonnes, placing them among the heaviest engineering blocks globally. Significantly, all reactors have been fabricated and assembled domestically, underscoring India’s growing capabilities in complex refinery engineering.

In HPCL roadmap, once the project receives certification under the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the Visakh Refinery is expected to produce around 10,000 metric tonnes of SAF annually from January 2027. This output is expected to contribute meaningfully to reducing aviation emissions while promoting a circular, waste-to-wealth economy through the utilisation of used cooking oil.

Several public sector oil companies and research institutions, including Indian Oil, BPCL, MRPL, CPCL and CSIR–Indian Institute of Petroleum, are actively engaged in SAF research and development, reflecting a coordinated national push towards sustainable aviation fuels.

Subhash Yadav