From coffee grounds to animal fat, Korea turns to organic waste to power airplanes

Discarded coffee grounds / Korea Times file

Korea is moving to turn discarded coffee grounds and animal fat into a new type of aviation fuel, launching a major research program aimed at securing supply chains for sustainable jet fuel as global carbon rules tighten.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said last Wednesday that it will formally launch a national research and development initiative focused on producing high-quality biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), from organic waste generated by the food industry. The state-backed program comes as international aviation emissions frameworks prepare to mandate stricter carbon reduction targets, increasing pressure on airlines and fuel exporters to adopt low-carbon alternatives.

To kickstart the initiative, ministry officials hosted an inaugural briefing last Wednesday at Withspace in western Seoul alongside key public agencies and corporate partners, including the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute and industrial developer LTM Metal.

Under the program, the government will oversee an investment of 48.7 billion won ($32.3 million) through 2030 to develop technologies capable of converting organic waste into aviation-grade fuel. Given that domestic SAF production currently relies almost exclusively on used cooking oil, the strategy is explicitly designed to diversify Korea's refining feedstock, mitigating long-term raw material shortages.

The ministry aims to identify underutilized non-animal waste sources — such as spent coffee pulp, grain husks and filtration waste — and construct pretreatment facilities capable of processing more than 30 tons of waste per day using low-temperature extraction techniques. Leftover byproducts from the lipid extraction process will be funneled into biogas production, with a target of recycling over 80 percent of residual materials. Concurrently, researchers will develop energy-efficient purification systems to strip impurities and oxygen from animal fat and livestock byproducts to make them viable for aviation blends.

To ensure that the resulting fuel achieves international verification, the project will build a web-based tracking system to monitor the supply chain from raw collection to final production, automating carbon footprint calculations to comply with global standards.

"This initiative marks a milestone in building a circular economy ecosystem," said Kim Go-eung, director of resource circulation at the ministry. "It transforms overlooked waste into a strategic resource for a crucial national industry."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.