Views: 6 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-08-29 Origin: Site
As global air transport demand continues to grow, the aviation industry's carbon emissions are projected to increase to 2–3 times their 2019 levels by 2050. In the foreseeable future, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is considered the most realistic and viable pathway for achieving carbon neutrality in the aviation sector. According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), if all the waste plastics generated globally each year were converted into SAF, they could meet approximately 20% of global jet fuel demand. This means that waste plastics are no longer an environmental burden—"waste plastic-to-energy" is becoming a direction for future development.
Traditional feedstocks for SAF include waste oils and fats, municipal solid waste, and agricultural and forestry residues. The conversion of waste plastics into SAF, as an emerging technological pathway and a brand-new plastic recycling solution, is attracting significant attention from the global chemical and aviation industries.
Recently, the Chinese listed company Niutech announced that it had officially signed a production line equipment sales contract with a global energy giant. In addition to investing in renewable energy power generation facilities, the company is considering a major upgrade to one of its large refineries, with the upgraded production line to be used for producing SAF.
Plastics converted into fuel—and specifically into high-value SAF—represent an emerging pathway for sustainable aviation fuel. Compared with traditional petroleum-based jet fuel, SAF can reduce carbon emissions over its entire life cycle. By converting waste plastics into SAF, these emissions are avoided while simultaneously displacing fossil fuel use, achieving a "dual benefit" of carbon reduction. This pathway not only addresses the plastic pollution problem but also provides a low-carbon fuel for the aviation industry, marking another breakthrough in the high-value application of chemical recycling of waste plastics.
Converting waste plastics into SAF falls under chemical treatment of plastics. It can process mixed, contaminated, and low-value waste plastics, and the product quality is equivalent to that of virgin materials, overcoming the bottleneck of mechanical recycling and providing a high-value outlet for low-value waste plastics.
Technological Pathway for Converting Waste Plastics into SAF
The most mature and industrially promising technological pathway for converting waste plastics into SAF consists of two core steps:
Step 1: Plastic pyrolysis – decomposing waste plastics into pyrolysis oil and other products. Pyrolysis oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons containing significant amounts of olefins, aromatics, and impurities. Niutech, as a globally leading manufacturer of pyrolysis technology and equipment, has core technologies that are highly aligned with the pathway of converting waste plastics into SAF. Niutech's industrial continuous pyrolysis production lines can efficiently convert waste plastics into high-quality pyrolysis oil—precisely the critical first step in the waste plastic-to-SAF route.
Step 2: Hydrotreating – subjecting the pyrolysis oil to catalytic hydrogenation reactions under high temperature, high pressure, and a hydrogen atmosphere to remove impurities and saturate unsaturated hydrocarbons, ultimately producing SAF with a composition identical to petroleum-based jet fuel.
Policy Drivers and Market Prospects
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set a target: by 2050, SAF will account for 65% of global jet fuel consumption. This means that annual SAF demand will grow from approximately 600,000 tons in 2023 to approximately 450 million tons in 2050—an increase of more than 700-fold.
The EU's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation requires that, starting in 2025, flights departing from EU airports must use at least 2% SAF, increasing to 6% by 2030 and 70% by 2050.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has issued the "Sustainable Aviation Fuel Development Action Plan," proposing for the first time SAF blending targets and launching SAF application pilot programs.
As carbon trading prices rise, taxes on virgin plastics increase, and SAF policy subsidies improve, the economics of converting waste plastics into SAF are rapidly improving.
Niutech's Industrial Foundation
Niutech's waste plastic pyrolysis technology has been industrially implemented in multiple countries and regions worldwide, providing valuable engineering experience and data support for the large-scale production of SAF from waste plastics.
- The Denmark project, a 10,000-ton-scale chemical recycling project invested in by the global chemical giant BASF, employs Niutech's technology and integrated equipment and has achieved commercial production of high-quality pyrolysis oil from waste plastics.
- The Thailand project, a waste plastic pyrolysis and oil deep-processing project, has been operating continuously and stably for over 10 years, providing engineering validation for the long-term stable production of SAF from waste plastics.
- In March 2025, Niutech's tire comprehensive utilization project obtained dual ISCC EU/PLUS certification. The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) is currently one of the most authoritative, credible, and influential sustainability certifications globally. This certification marks that Niutech's technologies and products have received high-standard quality and sustainability recognition in international markets, laying a solid foundation for the expansion of its SAF-from-waste-plastics business.
Despite challenges, the prospects for converting waste plastics into SAF remain broad. As global pressure to reduce carbon emissions intensifies, SAF policies continue to strengthen, and pyrolysis and hydrotreating technologies advance, the industrialization of waste plastic-to-SAF will accelerate.
Niutech, as a leader in pyrolysis technology, will play a key role in this process—by providing efficient and reliable pyrolysis equipment and solutions, ensuring a stable, high-quality feedstock supply for the global SAF industry, and helping the aviation sector achieve its carbon neutrality goals.
