Lang
South Korea is preparing to test whether the oily residue from deep fryers, currently discarded as food waste, can be converted into feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on the 15th that the government will open applications from September 16 through October 30 for operators to carry out three planned regulatory sandbox projects in the circular economy sector. The most prominent of the three focuses on diversifying the sources of SAF feedstock.
Under existing rules, fryer scraps are classified as food waste and cannot be recycled as raw material for petrochemical products or petroleum substitute fuels. Under the proposed regulatory exemption, operators would collect and manage the scraps, extract and refine the oil content, and test whether it can serve as SAF feedstock. Based on the pilot results, the government will consider creating a new waste classification code and a new category of permitted recycling.
The push to ease regulation is driven by the rapid growth expected in SAF demand. Under South Korea's roadmap, aircraft departing from the country will be required to use a 1% SAF blend starting next year. The blending ratio is set to rise in stages, reaching 3% to 5% by 2030 and 7% to 10% by 2035.
SAF is an aviation fuel produced from used cooking oil, animal and vegetable fats, and biomass. Products based on used cooking oil currently dominate the market, but competition for feedstock is intensifying as countries worldwide expand SAF adoption. Converting bioethanol extracted from grains such as corn into jet fuel has also emerged as an alternative route, though it raises concerns about pushing up food prices, prompting the government to look at discarded fryer scraps as a potential new supply source.
Alongside the SAF project, the government is also opening a call for applications for a project to recover critical minerals from industrial waste. Silicon and sputtering targets discarded after use in semiconductor manufacturing are prime candidates. These targets are used to deposit thin metal films on semiconductor wafers, and the resulting waste still contains critical minerals such as silicon, aluminum, copper, titanium, and tungsten. Until now, however, the market has not properly developed, and current rules require licensed companies to handle waste in prescribed ways, limiting the use of new recovery technologies.
The government plans to grant regulatory exemptions to companies with the relevant technology during the pilot period, verify the safety and economic viability of the recycling process, and then set out uses and standards for managing the materials as circular resources. Projects to recover critical minerals from spent batteries and discarded solar panels are also eligible, giving a chance to test technologies at companies that have recovery capabilities but could not commercialize them because of recycling standards.
The market for such waste resources is expected to expand rapidly. According to energy market research firm SNE Research, the global market for spent batteries will grow from 70 trillion won ($50 billion) in 2030 to 230 trillion won ($165 billion) in 2040 and 600 trillion won ($430 billion) in 2050. Discarded solar panels generated in South Korea are projected to increase about 3.6-fold, from 2,645 tons in 2027 to 9,632 tons in 2032.
The circular economy regulatory sandbox allows new technologies or services to be tested without existing regulations for a limited period, location, and scale. If safety and effectiveness are confirmed through testing, related rules are revised or new standards are established. Since the system was introduced in January 2024, exemptions have been granted to 63 projects.
Source: Seoul Economic Daily