Axens to build France’s first industrial-scale Jetanol™ SAF unit

ERA project overview

Axens is launching the ERA (Ethanol to Refuel Aviation) project, France’s first industrial-scale SAF production unit based on advanced bioethanol. The facility, to be developed by a project company named SAFIRIS, is sized at 50,000 tonnes per year and is targeted to begin production in 2030 using advanced ethanol sourced from European feedstocks.

Technology

The unit will deploy JETANOL™ technology, developed jointly by Axens and IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), which converts bioethanol into Sustainable Aviation Fuel and bio‑naphtha through three integrated steps: dehydration, oligomerization and hydrogenation. JETANOL™ is cited as having high yields and technological maturity and has been selected for multiple international Alcohol‑to‑Jet projects.

Sovereignty and regulatory context

ERA is presented as both an energy transition and sovereignty project to broaden SAF supply beyond HEFA routes (used cooking oils and animal fats) and to develop value chains based on domestic resources. The project targets support for European regulatory ambitions under ReFuelEU, which requires more than 1 Mt/year of SAF for flights departing France by 2035 and sets EU SAF shares of 6% by 2030 rising toward 70% by 2050.

Industrial positioning

Axens positions ERA alongside other French initiatives (NACRE advanced bioethanol at Lacq and the MACARON battery materials project in Valenciennes) as a replicable model to scale SAF value chains, reduce import dependence on jet fuel, and create direct and indirect jobs linked to the advanced ethanol supply chain.