Meet the SAFTAs Finalists
We’re delighted to share the first round of finalists for the inaugural SAFTAs (Sustainable Aviation Futures Trailblazer Awards) recognising the organisations, projects, and individuals delivering tangible progress in SAF and wider aviation decarbonisation. From scaling production and enabling next-generation projects, to improving airline operations, airport readiness, and the systems that make market growth possible, the SAFTAs exist to spotlight work that’s credible, replicable, and ready to scale.
In this edition of SAF Spotlight, and again next month, we’re introducing a selection of this year’s finalists, sharing the stories behind their progress, the partnerships that made it possible, and why they’re the people, projects, and businesses moving the industry forward.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project of the Year
Finalist: Johnson Matthey - DG Fuels Louisiana SAF Project
Scaling Sustainable Aviation Fuel: From ambition to industrial reality
As the aviation sector accelerates towards net zero, the challenge is no longer proving the viability of SAF. The priority now is scale. Delivering meaningful volumes requires projects that move beyond demonstration and into industrial deployment, and the DG Fuels Louisiana project represents a significant step in that direction.
Set to become the largest announced Fischer-Tropsch (FT) based SAF facility globally, the project shows how advanced technologies and cross-industry collaboration can create a new generation of SAF production. Johnson Matthey, as technology partner, plays a central role in delivering this capability.
At its core is the conversion of biomass residues into synthetic aviation fuel. Using feedstocks such as timber waste, bagasse and corn stover, the facility is designed to process up to one million dry tonnes of material each year. These agricultural and forestry residues would otherwise have limited economic value and could release carbon through decomposition or open burning. Converting them into SAF creates a more circular carbon pathway while supporting rural supply chains.
Following gasification, the resulting syngas is upgraded through FT synthesis into synthetic paraffinic kerosene suitable for blending into jet fuel. FT CANS technology, jointly developed by Johnson Matthey and bp, is integral to this process, combining advanced catalyst design with an efficient reactor configuration to maximise conversion efficiency and reduce energy losses.
The project also improves fuel yields while reducing overall carbon intensity by combining renewable hydrogen with hydrogen produced from natural gas alongside carbon capture and storage. Together with the use of biomass residues, this hybrid strategy delivers deep emissions reductions relative to conventional jet fuel and highlights the potential of non-HEFA pathways.
Production at scale is a defining feature. With expected output of around 13,000 barrels per day of SAF blend stock, the Louisiana facility will make a meaningful contribution to global supply. This is particularly important given the constraints associated with existing SAF pathways, many of which face long-term feedstock limitations. In contrast, widely available agricultural and forestry residues offer a more scalable and resilient feedstock base.
The project also reflects strong collaboration across the aviation value chain. Alongside Johnson Matthey and DG Fuels, partners include engineering specialists and major aviation stakeholders such as Airbus and leading airlines. This level of engagement signals clear market demand and supports long-term commercial viability.
Importantly, the Louisiana facility is intended as the first in a broader network of SAF plants across the United States. Replicating this model in different regions, while adapting to local feedstocks, will be key to accelerating deployment.
For Johnson Matthey, the project demonstrates how catalyst innovation, process integration and expertise in syngas technologies can support the transition to low carbon fuels. More broadly, it signals a shift for the industry from ambition to execution.
As aviation continues its decarbonisation journey, projects like DG Fuels Louisiana will help define the path forward by showing that SAF can be delivered at the scale required.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project of the Year
Finalist: NovaSAF™ 1 - Joint entry from Syzygy Plasmonics, Velocys, and Honeywell UOP
NovaSAF 1: A Commercial Blueprint for Ultra-Low-Carbon SAF
NovaSAF 1 is a different kind of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project. It was designed from the outset to meet the combined demands of carbon performance, regulatory compliance, and commercial viability.
Located in Durazno, Uruguay, the project converts biogas from dairy manure into drop-in jet fuel through a fully integrated, electrified process. Developed through a collaboration between Syzygy Plasmonics, Velocys, and Honeywell UOP, with engineering led by Kent as the EPC, NovaSAF 1 has progressed through FEED and is advancing toward final investment decision.
The project utilizes manure from approximately 14,000 cows at Estancias del Lago. Through anaerobic digestion, this waste stream produces biogas containing methane and CO₂, resources often flared or used in lower-value applications. NovaSAF 1 instead upgrades this carbon into SAF for international markets.
The integrated pathway is straightforward but differentiated:
Biogas + renewable electricity → electrified reforming → syngas → Fischer–Tropsch synthesis → hydroprocessed SAF
Key technologies include:
Syzygy’s GHG e-Reforming™ process, which converts methane to syngas without combustion, significantly reducing emissions
Velocys’ microFTL™ platform, enabling compact, modular Fischer–Tropsch conversion with high efficiency and increased yield
Honeywell UOP’s FT Unicracking™ process, a commercially proven, highly selective upgrading route to ASTM-compliant SAF
While many SAF pathways tradeoff between feedstock availability, carbon performance, and cost, NovaSAF 1 is designed to balance all three within a single, integrated system.
Based on integrated lifecycle modelling aligned with ISCC and CORSIA methodologies, the project is expected to achieve a carbon intensity of approximately 9 gCO₂e/MJ.1 This represents up to a 90% reduction compared to conventional jet fuel and meets key European regulatory thresholds, including ReFuelEU Aviation and RED III requirements.
Uruguay’s 90%+ renewable electricity grid plays a critical role in simplifying compliance with emerging synthetic fuel frameworks.
NovaSAF 1 is also structured for commercial durability. A multi-year, fixed price, take or pay offtake agreement with Trafigura links production directly to European compliance markets, while technoeconomic modelling indicates cost structures competitive with established SAF pathways.
Importantly, the project supports dual qualification under European frameworks: as an advanced biofuel through its biogenic feedstock, and as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) through its use of renewable electricity. These qualifications have been independently verified through an eligibility assessment by Peterson Solutions, a recognized expert in the field. This flexibility provides resilience as policy evolves and synthetic fuel mandates expand.
More broadly, NovaSAF 1 demonstrates how distributed biogenic carbon resources can be converted into globally traded, low-carbon fuels using a modular, replicable approach. Following the success NovaSAF 1, Syzygy has recently announced partnerships with others, such as Geo Biogas in Brazil, to construct larger projects that can meaningfully contribute to national SAF mandates globally.
NovaSAF 1 is not a pilot. It is a commercial model designed to be repeated.
Corporate Sustainability Leadership Award
Finalist: CÍRCULO SAF by Iberia
CÍRCULO SAF by Iberia is an initiative created to support the voluntary uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and to help bring corporate climate ambition closer to aviation decarbonisation efforts. Rather than positioning SAF as a one-off transaction, Iberia has developed a programme that brings together companies interested in supporting lower lifecycle emissions associated with business travel and freight transport.
The initiative responds to a growing challenge for many companies: how to continue flying for business-critical purposes while taking credible, practical steps as part of their emissions strategy. Corporate travel and cargo remain essential to economic activity, while also forming part of many organisations’ indirect emissions footprint. In this context, CÍRCULO SAF offers participating companies a structured and transparent way to engage with SAF environmental attributes.
Members benefit from access to SAF participation conditions, different programme tiers and additional recognition, loyalty, and communication benefits. In this way, the programme is designed not only to facilitate SAF participation, but also to help companies play an early role in supporting the development of this market.
Credibility is also an important part of the programme’s value proposition. Iberia provides tailored support with regular information on SAF market developments and provide access to relevant documentation under applicable EU criteria, such as Proof of Sustainability information, SAF producer certification, Scope 3-related documentation and external audit support, where relevant. The programme is also intended to support robust allocation and documentation processes for SAF environmental attributes, helping participating companies to make claims on a more informed basis.
In a sector where decarbonisation requires action across the value chain, CÍRCULO SAF provides a practical example of how airlines and corporate customers can engage together. It helps make SAF more accessible and understandable for companies, while creating a platform for shared participation rather than isolated action
SAF & Aviation Decarbonisation Technology Innovator
Finalist: KBC (A Yokogawa Company)
Aviation is under growing pressure to cut emissions and fast. While sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is widely seen as a key part of the solution, turning promising concepts into large-scale, affordable reality is anything but simple. That’s where advanced process simulation is quietly making a big difference.
Rather than relying on costly pilot plants and scale up or slow trial-and-error development engineers can now design and test complete SAF production pathways in a virtual environment. Using Petro-SIM® process simulation software, combined with an advanced Fischer–Tropsch reactor model called FTR-SIM, teams can explore everything from feedstock choice to final fuel quality, all before committing major capital.
Fischer–Tropsch synthesis has been used for decades to convert syngas, a blend of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, into liquid fuels. What’s new today is both where that syngas comes from and how the reactor products are refined. Instead of relying on fossil sources, syngas can now be produced from captured CO₂, biomass, or waste-derived materials. In effect, carbon emissions are no longer just a liability, they become a valuable raw material.
The process starts by combining captured CO₂ with green hydrogen, produced using water electrolyzer or other low-carbon pathways. This mixture is converted into syngas in a reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) unit, which then feeds the Fischer–Tropsch reactor. The resulting hydrocarbons are further upgraded in hydroprocessing units and separated into diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel that meets strict aviation standards.
What makes this approach especially powerful is how it’s modeled. Using Petro-SIM, together with FTR-SIM and hydroprocessing of the FTR-SIM effluent for hydrocracking, hydrotreating, or isomerization, enables simulation of the entire SAF process. The integrated model allows engineers to test operating strategies, compare reactor designs, analyze energy use, and track carbon intensity. It also supports selection of different downstream hydroprocessing options within one integrated environment. Additionally, the Petro-SIM process twin, with built-in optimization and AI/ML-assisted analysis, enables dozens or even hundreds of scenarios to be evaluated and predicted quickly and consistently to optimize the plant
The simulation results speak for themselves. Simulated CO₂-to-SAF pathways show around a 24% reduction in energy intensity compared to conventional jet fuel production. Even more striking is the carbon impact: lifecycle emissions can drop to roughly 20–35 gCO₂e/MJ, far below traditional fossil-based jet fuel.
Beyond performance metrics, simulation delivers something equally valuable: confidence. It reduces technical risk, shortens development timelines, and gives investors and decision-makers transparent, auditable data. Just as important, it makes advanced modeling accessible, not only to large operators, but also to universities, government agencies, and emerging SAF developers.
As aviation’s net-zero deadlines draw closer, smart simulation isn’t just helping improve processes. It’s helping turn sustainable aviation fuel into a scalable, bankable reality while Bringing Decarbonization to Life®.