euglena Co. (Tokyo; www.euglena.jp) and Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama City; both Japan; www.chiyoda-corp.com) have signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for Japan’s first pilot plant for production of renewable jet and diesel fuels in Yokohama. With this EPC contract signing, the commencement of the pilot plan has been set for June 2017, with a completion date of October 2018. This is a significant step forward toward the commercial production of renewable jet and diesel fuel in the first half of 2019.
On December 1, 2015, euglena Co announced a plan to produce and supply renewable jet and diesel fuels in Japan for practical use in such as commercial aviation and public road transportation by 2020 (Made in Japan Biofuels Project), with support from the City of Yokohama, Chiyoda, Itochu Enex Co., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA). Following this announcement, euglena Co has started working on the construction of the pilot plant, which includes basic design, notifications and applications to the relevant authorities, and land preparation of the planned construction site. Under the EPC contract signed today, the completion date of construction of the pilot plant will be October 31, 2018. Chiyoda is responsible for all of the EPC work to complete the construction by this date. The contract amount has been set; euglena Co. has already secured funding for all the investment amounts including this contract amount, through a public equity offering and with cash reserves. Furthermore, as of February 10, 2017, euglena Co. also concluded with Asahi Glass Co. a fixed-term land lease agreement for the construction site.
With the signing of the EPC contract, euglena Co. has completed the establishment of the renewable fuels production system, along with the preparation for the production and supply of renewable jet and diesel fuels in Japan for practical use by 2020.