Ebara Elliot Energy wins contract to provide compressor for Thailand’s 1st SAF project

A centrifugal compressor (Photo: Ebara Elliot Energy)

Ebara Elliott Energy, formerly Elliott Group, announced May 8 that it has been contracted to provide a motor-driven recycle compressor with a variable frequency drive (VFD) for the sustainable fuel development project by TTCL Public Co. Ltd.

Situated in Bangkok, Thailand, the facility is the country’s first and only sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) commercial production unit, using 100 percent used cooking oil, operated by BSGF Co. Ltd.

BSGF is a joint venture between Bangchak, BBGI and Thanachok Oil Light Co. formed in 2022.

The initiative strategically positions itself to cater to domestic and international aviation industries.

Thailand’s first SAF plant, scheduled for commissioning this year, will have an initial daily capacity of 1 million liters (264,000 gallons).

The aviation industry can immediately use SAF without affecting engine performance, and the production of SAF will help reduce the industry’s greenhouse-gas emissions by approximately 80,000 tons of CO2e annually compared to present emission levels.

This 80,000-ton CO2 reduction equals 20 round-trip flights per year between Chicago and Tokyo for 300 passengers.

“Ebara Elliott Energy continues to be a leading compressor supplier in the Thailand market,” said Fucai Lin, Ebara Elliot Energy’s area sales manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are pleased to provide our premier equipment and service for this first SAF project in Thailand and look forward to providing our customers with the best possible solutions to the challenges they face,” Lin said.

SAF production utilizing used cooking oil is a common process with existing refinery applications such as hydrotreatment, according to HongPing Zhang, Ebara Elliott Energy’s director of sustainability business development.

“Ebara Elliott Energy has extensive experience and expertise with hydrogen-rich gas centrifugal compressors,” Zhang said.

“We understand that SAF will play an important role in the decarbonization of the aviation industry, and we are excited to be a part of this innovative project that will contribute to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in Thailand,” Zhang added.