In Renqiu City, Hebei Province, a land dedicated to making airplanes soar greener is quietly changing. Recently, a green and low-carbon key project with a considerable total investment, the 100000 tons/year Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project, of China Petroleum North China Petrochemical Company, has completed the bidding candidate announcement for EPC (Design, Procurement, Construction) general contracting. The comprehensive evaluation results show that PetroChina East China Design Institute Co., Ltd. has taken the lead and become the first candidate for winning the bid. This means that this highly anticipated project is about to enter the hot construction stage from the blueprint, pressing the "acceleration key" for China's green aviation fuel production capacity by 2026.

Project blueprint and schedule

The project has been steadily progressing since it was officially accepted by the Cangzhou Administrative Approval Bureau on October 30, 2025. The core construction content is clear: to build a new raw material pretreatment unit with an annual processing capacity of 150000 tons and a SAF production unit with an annual output of 100000 tons. At the same time, supporting projects will also be improved synchronously, including the construction of four large raw material storage tanks, automobile loading and unloading facilities, and the renovation and reuse of the existing aviation coal and diesel storage tanks and the third circulating water plant of Huabei Petrochemical.

According to the bidding documents, the project schedule starts from the day after the contract is signed and continues until qualified products are produced and stable operation lasts for 72 hours. A key timeline is that the detailed design work must commence within 5 days after the contract is signed and the on-site conditions are met. The construction pace of the entire project is tight, with the intermediate handover scheduled for November 30, 2026, and the final overall handover of the project planned to be completed on December 20, 2026. The goal is clear - to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2026.

The entire chain from design to operation assurance

The scope of this EPC general contracting covers almost all aspects of the project from construction to initial operation. The winning bidder not only needs to complete detailed design and equipment material procurement based on the approved documents, but also be responsible for all construction, system cleaning and commissioning, as well as complex commissioning work. The responsibility period will continue until the 72 hour start-up and operation stage after the device is put into trial operation and produces qualified products.

In addition, it is the responsibility of the general contractor to cooperate with performance assessment, digital delivery, data archiving, and even final completion acceptance. It is worth noting that the "three connections and one leveling" (water, electricity, road, and site leveling) work in the early stage of the project was not included in this bidding, which left a clear interface for the rapid connection of the project.

Steadily advancing to support a green future

In fact, the smooth progress of the project has already laid the groundwork. Looking back at 2025, PetroChina East China Design Institute successfully won the bid for the basic design work of the project in June last year. Subsequently, in October, the critical HAZOP analysis (hazard and operability analysis) and SIL assessment (safety integrity level assessment) sections of the project were also awarded to Qingdao CPC East China Institute of Safety and Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. This series of solid preliminary work has laid a solid foundation for the smooth bidding and comprehensive development of EPC general contracting projects today.

Sustainable aviation fuel is considered the most realistic path for the aviation industry to achieve deep carbon reduction in the short term. The construction of this project by PetroChina Huabei Petrochemical is an important strategic layout of PetroChina in this field. After the completion of the project, it will directly provide substantial support for the green and low-carbon transformation of China's aviation industry, and contribute the power of energy state-owned enterprises to China's dual carbon goals. With the imminent decision of the EPC general contractor, this construction site in Renqiu, Hebei is nurturing a new driving force for future green soaring.Editor/Yang Meiling