Axens aims to build Europe’s largest SAF plant in France

French clean fuels company Axens has acquired stakes in the BioTJet project with the aim of building and operating Europe’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in France.

Due to become operational in 2027 pending a final investment decision at the end of next year, the facility would use the Fischer-Tropsch process and BioTfueL thermochemical technology, Axens said on 12 April.

Axens said it would be working on the BioTJet project alongside its partners e-fuel (e-methanol and SAF) producer Elyse Energy, French vegetable oil and biodiesel group Avril, biomass plant manager Bionext – set up by the BioTJet project partners to manage operations including the construction and operation of two demonstration units – and French public research organisation IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN).

In addition to supporting the development of the BioTJet project as a licensor and equipment, catalyst and adsorbent supplier, Axens said it would become a shareholder and partner of the BioTJet project company.

The BioTJet project would make it possible to process a broad spectrum of lignocellulosic biomasses by combining torrefaction, gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce SAF and by-products such as sustainable naphtha, Axens said.

In Brief

UAE: Dubai-based energy company Lootah Biofuels has signed an agreement with Maldives state-owned utility firm Fenaka Corporation to develop its first biofuel production plant from used cooking oil (UCO) outside the country, Zawya reported on 25 April.

Lootah had a facility in Dubai that produced biofuels from UCO, which was used by fleets of major companies in the UAE, Zawya wrote.

The company operated seven private biofuel stations in Dubai and Sharjah and had plans to open a facility in Abu Dhabi this year, the report said.

Producing a total of more than 60M litres/year of biofuels and exporting them to European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, in addition to India, the company was looking to export to countries in the Gulf region and Asia to meet rising global demand, the report said.

SPAIN/PORTUGAL: Spanish energy firm Repsol and Irish airline Ryanair have signed a deal to promote the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Spain and Portugal.

As part of the agreement, Repsol would supply Ryanair with a maximum of 155,000 tonnes of SAF from 20252030, the firms said on 4 May.

Repsol manufactures renewable fuels for all transport sectors, including aviation. At the end of this year, the company said it would start operations at the first advanced biofuels plant in Spain, in Cartagena, which would produce 250,000 tonnes of renewable fuels from waste, as part of the company’s target of producing 1.3M tonnes/year of renewable fuels by 2025 and more than 2M tonnes/year by 2030. Repsol aims to reach zero net emissions by 2050.