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Historical archive · #Japan

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  1. Biodiesel
    Google News · BIODIESEL · esSignificance: Notable

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    Mazda's microalgae biodiesel R&D project selected for NEDO's FY2026 program

    Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that its R&D project "Development of High-Density Microalgal Biofuel" was selected for the fiscal 2026 program of NEDO, the Japanese government agency that funds the commercialization of energy-saving decarbonization technologies. The project targets renewable HVO biodiesel refined from microalgal lipids. Mazda, which has researched algae biofuels since the 2010s together with Hiroshima University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, will lead the upstream chain — high-density cultivation, harvesting, drying and lipid extraction — while Idemitsu Kosan will study refining the extracted lipids into usable fuel. Mazda says it has validated production of more than one liter of fuel in about two weeks from a 1000-liter cultivation tank. As a first industrial application, the company aims to factory-fill every diesel vehicle built at its Japanese plants with algae-derived HVO biodiesel in the early 2030s. Director and CSO Takeji Kojima framed the effort within Mazda's multi-solution strategy toward a regional circular energy model.

  2. SAF
    Google News · SAF · jaSignificance: Notable

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    Japan's next-gen fuel journal: SAF to reshape aviation — decarbonization and the race for domestic production

    A feature from the Japanese monthly 'Jigyō Kōsō' online (reprinted with permission from the METI Kinki Bureau's official Note, originally published September 3, 2026) opens the 'Next-Generation Fuel Journal' series on sustainable aviation fuel. It explains that SAF — made from used cooking oil, woody biomass and bioethanol — is a drop-in fuel usable in existing aircraft and fueling infrastructure, cutting lifecycle emissions by roughly 60–80% versus conventional jet fuel; ICAO expects SAF to deliver about 55% of aviation decarbonization by 2050. Japan's policy stack includes the 2030 target of replacing 10% of domestic airlines' fuel with SAF, a public-private SAF council, Green Innovation Fund support for technology development, GX transition bond backing for large manufacturing equipment investment, a tax scheme to promote domestic production in strategic sectors, and feedstock supply-chain support. The three main barriers: high production costs, tight waste-cooking-oil supply amid international competition driving up prices, and securing demand while scaling volumes (2022 global SAF supply was about 300000 kilolitres, just 0.1% of global jet fuel). Domestic projects are advancing in Wakayama, Osaka, Chiba and Okinawa; Cosmo Oil's Sakai refinery began supplying domestically produced SAF in April 2025; the Kinki Bureau has hosted the 'Kansai Next-Generation Fuel Forum NEXT' since 2023, most recently on March 10, 2026.