Renewable diesel and SAF: Production route
Standalone plants, converted refineries and the e-SAF frontier
What this tab covers How it is made: the main production routes or, for product families, the main product types and technologies, compared on share of supply, inputs per tonne, plant scale, yield, co-products and unit cost.HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids) dominates both renewable diesel and SAF. Standalone units (Neste, Diamond Green Diesel) or converted refineries (Phillips 66 Rodeo, Eni, TotalEnergies) hydrotreat fats; refineries can also co-process up to about 5% bio-feed in existing units. Non-lipid routes matter for SAF growth because waste fats are limited: alcohol-to-jet from ethanol or isobutanol, Fischer-Tropsch from gasified residues, and e-SAF from CO2 and electrolytic hydrogen. These are early and costly.
Routes compared
| Route | Share of supply | Inputs per tonne | Typical scale | Yield | Co-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HEFA standalone (renewable diesel or SAF mode) | about 90% of HVO and SAF (indicative) | about 1.2 t fats and 0.035-0.04 t hydrogen per t product (indicative) | 0.5-2.6 Mt a year (Neste Singapore about 2.6 Mt, indicative); DGD Norco 982 million gallons a year | about 80-85% liquid on fats in diesel mode; jet mode yields more naphtha (indicative) | bio-propane, bio-naphtha, water, CO2 | fats are 70-80% of cost; Neste's comparable sales margin was $411/t in 2025 |
| Refinery conversion and co-processing | about 10% (indicative) | as HEFA | 0.03-1 Mt a year; Indian Oil 30 kt a year SAF (2025) | as HEFA | as HEFA | lower capex than new units (indicative) |
| Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) | under 1% (indicative) | about 1.7-1.8 t ethanol per t jet (indicative) | tens of kt a year (LanzaJet Freedom Pines, indicative) | about 55-60% mass (indicative) | naphtha, renewable diesel | higher than HEFA (indicative) |
| Fischer-Tropsch and e-SAF (power-to-liquid) | e-SAF capacity operating or under construction about 0.02 Mt against an EU and UK 2030 mandate of about 0.6 Mt (IATA, Jun 2026) | e-SAF needs about 0.5 t H2 and about 3 t CO2 per t (indicative) | pilot to 100 kt a year | low | naphtha, waxes | e-SAF up to 12x fossil jet (IATA, Dec 2025) |
How each route works
HEFA standalone (renewable diesel or SAF mode)Pre-treated fats are hydrodeoxygenated and isomerised over nickel-molybdenum or noble-metal catalysts; operators trade diesel yield for jet yield.
drop-in, proven; limited by waste fat supply and hydrogen emissions
Neste Financial Statements Release 2025 (Feb 2026); EIA capacity report via OPIS, 25 Sep 2026 (capacity at 1 Jan 2026); indicative Refinery conversion and co-processingOld diesel hydrotreaters are converted to run fats, or a few per cent of bio-feed is co-processed with fossil oil. Indian Oil's Panipat refinery makes SAF with international certification (Dec 2025).
fast and cheap to start; co-processed share is hard to trace
USDA FAS India Biofuels Annual (Jul 2026) via BioEnergy Times; indicative Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ)Ethanol or isobutanol is dehydrated, oligomerised and hydrogenated to jet-range paraffins.
ties SAF to abundant ethanol (relevant to India); high ethanol use
indicative Fischer-Tropsch and e-SAF (power-to-liquid)Gasified residues or CO2 plus electrolytic hydrogen make syngas, then FT waxes are hydrocracked to jet.
no feedstock ceiling; very high cost and power use
IATA Jun 2026; IATA press release No. 57, 9 Dec 2025 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs move with feedstock and energy prices, plant size and region.