Egypt’s state-owned Egyptian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company (ESAF) has entered the advanced development stage for a $570 million SAF facility in Alexandria, with permits and approvals underway, main contracts being finalized, and financing arrangements in progress. The plant targets 120,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of SAF and a startup date of 2029.

Africa has no operating commercial-scale SAF facility. If the Alexandria project is built to its planned capacity, it would be the largest SAF project on the continent, entering service at a time when IATA estimated 2025 global SAF output at 1.9 million tonnes. A single 120,000-tonne African facility would represent roughly 6 percent of that estimated global output.

ESAF is a subsidiary of the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM). In December 2025, ESAF signed a license agreement with Honeywell UOP for advanced hydrotreating technology. The technology is Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining process, developed with Eni, which converts waste fats, oils, and greases into SAF and renewable diesel. ESAF Chairman Tamer Heikal and Matt Spalding, Vice President of Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions for Asia Pacific, Middle East, North Africa and India, signed the agreement.

If built to its planned 120,000-tonne annual capacity, the Alexandria facility would be Africa’s largest SAF project, targeting a reduction of 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from used cooking oil feedstock.

The plant will use used cooking oil (UCO) as its primary feedstock, with an estimated CO2 reduction of 400,000 tonnes per year. SAF prices currently run 2 to 5 times the cost of conventional jet fuel globally, and Africa has faced an acute shortage of domestic supply infrastructure. A 120,000-tpa facility in Egypt would give regional carriers a local supply option and could position Alexandria as an early SAF logistics hub for the continent, provided the project reaches financial close and holds its schedule toward 2029.

Source: Zawya.com