China's First Domestic Full Value Chain Closed-Loop SAF Commercial Application Lands in Beijing

BEIJING — On August 19^th, Air China Flight CA963 from Beijing to Brussels successfully completed refueling with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at Beijing Capital International Airport. Refined from used cooking oil (UCO) collected in Changping District, Beijing, the operation marks China's first full-chain closed-loop SAF commercial application executed entirely within a single municipality—spanning feedstock collection, refining, flight bunkering, and benefit redemption—and signaling the commercial landing of domestic UCO-to-biofuel projects.

The initiative is led and coordinated by China National Aviation Fuel Group (CNAF), established a localized SAF integration model known as the "Changping Model." Using used cooking oil collected from outlets such as KFC and McDonald's in Changping District as feedstock, CNAF and Beijing Zhongjing Zhenghe Environmental Services jointly executed standardized closed transportation, while Haixin Energy Technology performed deep refining and production. CNAF completed the bunkering for Air China's flight at Beijing Capital International Airport, with Air China's corporate clients subscribing to carbon offsets, the project successfully established an endogenous circular ecosystem defined by "locally sourced feedstocks, locally refined fuel, locally bunkered flights, and locally redeemed carbon offsets subscription."

The bunkering operation successfully bridged waste collection, enclosed transport, refining, and airport refueling to achieve efficient waste valorization:

Source Control & Food Safety: Digitalized, standardized collection systems gather waste cooking oils, fundamentally eliminating the food safety risk of "gutter oil" re-entering the food supply chain.

Closed-Loop Refining: Enclosed transport networks safely transfer waste feedstocks to refining facilities using advanced environmental processes to produce high-quality SAF.

Market-Based Decarbonization: Finished aviation fuel is delivered directly to Beijing Capital International Airport for flight bunkering. The entire process relies on the AnchorTrace(a scope 3 SAF environmental credit registry and cancellation platform jointly developed by the Second Research Institute of CAAC and CNAF) executes credit certification, transfer, and settlement—achieving solid waste valorization, industrial decarbonization, localized supply chains, and market-driven emission reductions.