A collaborative project to produce seed-based feedstock for biofuels has been initiated by global agriculture technology company Corteva and BP PLC. The Etlas venture will rely on technology from Corteva to develop crops suited to produce synthetic aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD) and will harness the expertise of BP to refine these fuels for the commercial transportation market.

The Etlas program is intended to produce 1 million metric tons of feedstock per year, primarily from canola, mustard and sunflower crops by the mid-2030s. This annual volume could produce over 800,000 tons of biofuel. crops that are grown on existing cropland, between main food cropping seasons. BP currently produces about 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of biofuels through co-processing at its refineries and has bioethanol production capacity in Brazil of around 50,000 bpd ethanol equivalent.

Industry estimates indicate the global demand for SAF will grow to as much as 10 million tons by 2030 from about 1 million tons in 2024, while global demand for RD could rise to as much as 35 million tons by 2030 from approximately 17 million tons in 2024.

Initial supply is scheduled to begin in 2027 for use in co-processing at refineries as well as at dedicated biofuels plants.