Central Queensland will become a global centre for the burgeoning sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market, following a landmark deal between Australian start-up and global giant.

SKY Renewables and Honeywell UOP inked a deal on a first-of-a-kind feedstock and technology memorandum of understanding in early October. Eventually, the deal will mean agricultural resources in Queensland’s Central Highlands will be used to produce bioethanol, a key ingredient in SAF production.

The deal will connect SKY Renewables’ unparalleled network of primary producers with technology partners and end-users. These connections will ultimately be used to produce SAF thanks Honeywell’s renewable fuel technology, the UOP Ethanol to Jet Fuel Process and Honeywell Process Solutions.

SKY Renewables’ vision for the Central Highlands, dubbed “Project Feast”, is a collaboration with cotton growers in the district to grow sugar beet as a rotational winter crop. Sugar beet, when processed, produces “thick juice”, which acts as a low carbon intensity feedstock for making bioethanol.

This is a first step towards utilising rich agricultural and waste resources in Central Queensland and other parts of Australia for ultimate SAF production.

SKY Renewables has been working with growers in Queensland since 2018 to connect the paddock with markets for bioenergy. SKY Renewables’ success has come through its dedication and long-term alignment of its focus with growers.

SKY Renewables’ first project, Project Lion in the Burdekin district of North Queensland will harvest sugarcane “tops-and-trash” (green and dry leaves) and process it to produce biomethane (renewable natural gas) for the Asian market.

Tops-and-trash and fallow crops in Queensland’s sugarcane industry is a highly scalable resource for the burgeoning biomethane industry in the Asia-Pacific and has the potential to grow into hundreds of megawatts of renewable gas-fired power generation.

SKY Renewables Founder and CEO, Simon Yim, was excited by the prospect of bringing together Central Highlands growers and global technological giants.

“Working with some of the world’s best growers right here in Emerald has made me very optimistic about how Central Queensland can play a part in the emerging SAF market”, Mr Yim said.

“By bringing their product and combining it with Honeywell’s global expertise, I’m very excited about the Central Highlands’ future as a global centre for biofuels”.

11 November 2025