New SAF Producer Moves Forward after Offtake Agreement

Syzygy Plasmonics, another potential player in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market, has just signed a six-year offtake agreement with commodities broker Trafigura for the purchase of next-generation SAF from Syzygy’s first commercial facility, which will be located in Durazno, Uruguay.

NovaSAF-1, as the plant will be named, will be the world’s first electrified biogas-to-SAF facility to produce SAF compliant with standards for renewable fuels of non-biological origin, with deliveries anticipated to start in 2028. It will use Honeywell’s Fischer-Tropsch (FT) hydrocracking technologies and a specialized photoreactor that contains plasmonic nanoparticles. When illuminated by lights powered by renewable electricity, these nanoparticles absorb light energy and transfer it directly to biogas molecules, splitting them apart.

As a feedstock, it will leverage biogas from the nearby Estancias Del Lago powdered milk plant to produce SAF that Syzygy claims will provide 90% lower life-cycle emissions than conventional jet fuel (in its neat, unblended form).

Syzygy declined to answer a question from AIN as to the planned output of the facility, but the binding agreement with Trafigura will cover the entire production volume of the NovaSAF-1 plant during that six-year span.

“This agreement marks a critical step in our journey toward commercial-scale impact and disrupting the SAF market,” explained Syzygy CEO Trevor Best. “With a signed offtake agreement from a global leader like Trafigura, and after having successfully completed LEED engineering in December, we’re now ready to secure financing for the construction of NovaSAF-1 and move our technology from potential into production.”