Brazil could become a global powerhouse in green aviation fuel: JetBio plans to build the world's largest commercial SAF factory, producing 1 billion liters per year from domestic ethanol, with 90% of production for export and operations expected to start in 2030.

Brazil could become a global powerhouse in green aviation fuel: JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory, producing 1 billion liters per year from domestic ethanol, with 90% of production for export and operations expected to start in 2030.

Written by Valdemar Medeiros

Published on 03/06/2026 at 12:17

Be the first to react!

JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory in Brazil, with an annual production of 1 billion liters and a focus on export.

Brazil may be on the verge of taking a strategic position in one of the most competitive markets of the global energy transition. JetBio, a company controlled by the American group Summit Agricultural Group, announced plans to build the world’s largest commercial sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) factory in the country, using Brazilian ethanol as the main raw material.

The project foresees an annual production of approximately 1 billion liters of SAF, a volume that would place the future unit on a much larger scale than most enterprises currently in operation or construction in the sector. Production is expected to begin in 2030 and will be strongly oriented towards export, with about 90% of the volume destined for the international market.

World’s largest commercial SAF factory could place Brazil at the center of aviation decarbonization

Sustainable aviation fuel is considered one of the main tools to reduce carbon emissions from air transport. Unlike electric cars, commercial airplanes still heavily rely on liquid fuels, making SAF a strategic alternative for the sector.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Sugarcane, corn, and waste ethanol will be the basis of the fuel that can supply airlines worldwide

One of the project’s differentiators is the raw material. JetBio intends to use a wide network of Brazilian ethanol suppliers, including sugarcane producers, second-crop corn ethanol, and even fuels produced from agricultural waste. This diversity reduces supply risks and expands production capacity.

Watch the video

According to JetBio CEO, William Moore, the availability of low-carbon intensity ethanol was one of the main factors that led the company to choose Brazil instead of the United States to host the unit.

The country is already one of the world’s largest ethanol producers and has a consolidated chain involving agriculture, logistics, and large-scale industrial processing.

$2 Billion Project Reinforces the Importance of Brazilian Agribusiness in the New Low-Carbon Economy

The investment planned for the construction of the factory is around $2 billion, according to information released by the Summit Agricultural Group. The financing is expected to be raised from American investors interested in the growth of the global sustainable fuels market.

The initiative also strengthens the connection between Brazilian agribusiness and the renewable energy industry. Ethanol produced from sugarcane and corn ceases to be just a fuel for automobiles and begins to occupy a strategic space in one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonize: commercial aviation.

Watch the video

Additionally, the project creates a new source of demand for ethanol producers, expanding opportunities for plants and suppliers across the country.

Paulínia Emerges as Favorite to Host the Megafactory

Although the final decision has not yet been officially announced, the city of Paulínia, in the interior of São Paulo, appears as the main candidate to host the enterprise. The location offers access to highways, railways, and already consolidated industrial infrastructure.

The choice would also facilitate access to important ethanol-producing hubs in the Brazilian Center-South, reducing logistical costs and ensuring large-scale supply for the future operation.

JetBio plans to build in Brazil the world's largest commercial SAF factory, with an annual production of 1 billion liters and a focus on export. — SAF production in Brazil

The construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027, if regulatory and financing processes advance as expected by the company.

The Global Race for SAF is Just Beginning and Brazil Wants to Lead

Today, sustainable fuels represent a very small portion of the total global aviation consumption. In 2025, SAF accounted for less than 1% of the sector’s global demand, but it is expected to grow rapidly as new environmental requirements come into effect.

Starting in 2027, airlines from various countries will face stricter emission reduction targets, increasing the demand for renewable fuels capable of replacing part of the traditional kerosene.

In this scenario, Brazil has two advantages that few competitors possess simultaneously: enormous availability of biomass and one of the most developed ethanol chains on the planet.

If the JetBio project comes to fruition as planned, the country could transition from being just an agricultural powerhouse to becoming one of the world’s largest suppliers of sustainable aviation fuel.

The question now is whether this megafactory will be just the first step of a new billion-dollar industry or the beginning of a global race in which Brazil will attempt to lead a market that is still being built.

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Brazil could become a global powerhouse in green aviation fuel: JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory, producing 1 billion liters per year from domestic ethanol, with 90% of production for export and operations expected to start in 2030.

JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory in Brazil, with an annual production of 1 billion liters and a focus on export.

World’s largest commercial SAF factory could place Brazil at the center of aviation decarbonization

Sugarcane, corn, and waste ethanol will be the basis of the fuel that can supply airlines worldwide

$2 Billion Project Reinforces the Importance of Brazilian Agribusiness in the New Low-Carbon Economy

Paulínia Emerges as Favorite to Host the Megafactory

The Global Race for SAF is Just Beginning and Brazil Wants to Lead

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Four times faster than the Concorde, capable of taking passengers from New York to London in less than an hour at Mach 5.5, and with an engine that switches from turbojet to ramjet mid-flight at Mach 3.5, the Hermeus Quarterhorse went from paper to its first flight in just 19 months.

Under nearly 2 kilometers of ice in Antarctica, scientists have discovered an ancient landscape sculpted by rivers up to 60 million years ago, the size of Wales, preserved as a time capsule that could help predict the advance of ice towards the ocean.

She started by collecting oyster shells from restaurants and today she has already accumulated more than 10 tons to restore reefs, recover coastal habitats, and demonstrate how a common waste can become a tool for ocean conservation.

SpaceX will dock a $843 million vehicle to the International Space Station to push a nearly 420-ton laboratory against the atmosphere and make the debris fall in a controlled manner into the ocean.

Nestlé goes shopping and acquires yfood Labs to boost the ready-to-drink meal market in Europe

Brazil will deactivate more than 35 oil platforms by 2030 in a market estimated at R$ 306 billion, but it has no qualified shipyard, no approved law, and no defined tax regime to do the work domestically.

Soybeans plummet in Chicago with favorable weather in the United States, and Brazilian producers hold off sales due to price pressure and lack of market response.

Anvisa suspends batch of Crystal water after detecting bacteria in official analysis and warns consumers in four states not to consume the product.

New factory arrives in Bahia with an investment of R$ 30 million: a jerky unit with a planned capacity of 90,000 kg per day is expected to create 300 direct jobs and strengthen Feira de Santana as a new hub for the food industry.

Brazil could become a global powerhouse in green aviation fuel: JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory, producing 1 billion liters per year from domestic ethanol, with 90% of production for export and operations expected to start in 2030.

JetBio plans to build the world’s largest commercial SAF factory in Brazil, with an annual production of 1 billion liters and a focus on export.

World’s largest commercial SAF factory could place Brazil at the center of aviation decarbonization

Sugarcane, corn, and waste ethanol will be the basis of the fuel that can supply airlines worldwide

$2 Billion Project Reinforces the Importance of Brazilian Agribusiness in the New Low-Carbon Economy

Paulínia Emerges as Favorite to Host the Megafactory

The Global Race for SAF is Just Beginning and Brazil Wants to Lead

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Four times faster than the Concorde, capable of taking passengers from New York to London in less than an hour at Mach 5.5, and with an engine that switches from turbojet to ramjet mid-flight at Mach 3.5, the Hermeus Quarterhorse went from paper to its first flight in just 19 months.

Under nearly 2 kilometers of ice in Antarctica, scientists have discovered an ancient landscape sculpted by rivers up to 60 million years ago, the size of Wales, preserved as a time capsule that could help predict the advance of ice towards the ocean.

She started by collecting oyster shells from restaurants and today she has already accumulated more than 10 tons to restore reefs, recover coastal habitats, and demonstrate how a common waste can become a tool for ocean conservation.

SpaceX will dock a $843 million vehicle to the International Space Station to push a nearly 420-ton laboratory against the atmosphere and make the debris fall in a controlled manner into the ocean.

Nestlé goes shopping and acquires yfood Labs to boost the ready-to-drink meal market in Europe

New factory arrives in Bahia with an investment of R$ 30 million: a jerky unit with a planned capacity of 90,000 kg per day is expected to create 300 direct jobs and strengthen Feira de Santana as a new hub for the food industry.

For the economist José Kobori, the USA gained a trump card to “blackmail” Brazil and undermine China’s influence by classifying the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorists, increasing the power to pressure companies, banks, and even Pix.

The labor shortage has changed its face in Brazil: companies hire 80% more, but workers stay only 6.8 months in the job, the service market becomes a “revolving door,” and businesses spend increasingly more to train teams that soon leave.

Chinese giant chooses SC to set up its first factory in Brazil, investing R$ 250 million and producing MRI machines costing R$ 10 million each, with 100 direct jobs and 5% of revenue allocated to research.

Nestlé goes shopping and acquires yfood Labs to boost the ready-to-drink meal market in Europe

Brazil will deactivate more than 35 oil platforms by 2030 in a market estimated at R$ 306 billion, but it has no qualified shipyard, no approved law, and no defined tax regime to do the work domestically.

Soybeans plummet in Chicago with favorable weather in the United States, and Brazilian producers hold off sales due to price pressure and lack of market response.

Anvisa suspends batch of Crystal water after detecting bacteria in official analysis and warns consumers in four states not to consume the product.

New factory arrives in Bahia with an investment of R$ 30 million: a jerky unit with a planned capacity of 90,000 kg per day is expected to create 300 direct jobs and strengthen Feira de Santana as a new hub for the food industry.