News Roundup July 2025

Cranfield University in the UK has signed a MoU with synthetic SAF developer CirculAIRity to work together on multiple projects to develop and improve power-to-liquid (PtL) production efficiencies. Working with Cranfield’s Centre for Digital Engineering and Design, the initiative will support CirculAIRity’s mission to offer SAF production at scale by designing and developing a digital platform to enable interoperability in engineering modelling for better decisions, with the aim to improve productivity and reliability across the supply chains in the maturing PtL SAF sector, explained the Centre’s head, Prof John Erkoyuncu. “To reach those goals, we need to strategically shape future skillsets, advance humanity’s understanding of the energy transition and deliver a commercially attractive SAF programme globally,” said Alex Chikhani, CEO and co-founder of CirculAIRity, and a Cranfield University alumnus. CirculAIRity is aiming to produce e-fuel utilising direct air capture CO2.
 
US SAF producer Natural States Renewables (NSR) has joined with Axens and its partner thyssenkrupp Uhde to use BioTfuel technology to produce SAF made from surplus forest biomass such as pre-commercial thinnings and slash. NSR expects to utilise a combination of feedstock, process configuration, power generation using biomass and local carbon capture storage, and capture of facility CO2 emissions to produce SAF with negative GHG emissions. NSR says its future plants in Southern Arkansas and North Louisiana will give proximity to abundant feedstock supply and an ideal geology for carbon sequestration.
 
Hong Kong headquartered EcoCeres has announced a multi-year agreement to supply British Airways with SAF. Although details of the quantities of SAF and where it will be supplied to are not being released, nor a start date, EcoCeres says it expects the airline to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by around 400,000 tonnes compared with conventional jet fuel. The SAF will be produced from feedstock such used cooking oil. BA’s Director of Sustainability, Carrie Harris, said SAF accounted for 2.7% of total fuel use in 2024, contributing to a 13% reduction in the carrier’s carbon intensity since 2019. Meanwhile, EcoCeres has released a position paper supporting calls for reforms to the EU system for verifying sustainable biofuels. Recent reports suggest biofuels with questionable sustainability records have been used in the EU and, says EcoCeres, current rules and mechanisms seem inefficient to prevent fraudulent practices.
 
XCF Global reports its New Rise Reno facility in Nevada has now produced 2.5 million gallons of renewable fuels, including SAF, since commercial operations began in February 2025. The company says $350 million has been invested to date in the facility, part of a $1 billion total investment over the next three years to develop a network of SAF production facilities both in the US and internationally. It has signed a MoU with Continual Renewable Ventures to build a SAF platform in Australia. The company’s site design and integrated technology stack enables flexible production of renewable fuels according to changing market demand and to maximise plant utilisation.
 
Spanish energy company and SAF supplier Moeve has signed a MoU with Zaffra, a joint venture between Sasol and Topsoe, to assess the feasibility of developing e-SAF facilities in Southern Spain, where Moeve (formerly CEPSA) is developing the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. The goal of the collaboration, says Moeve, is to meet the ReFuelEU Aviation targets, which call for at least 6% of all aviation fuel supplied at EU airports to be SAF by 2030, including 1.2% of synthetic fuels like e-SAF.
 
US carbon market intelligence provider cCarbon forecasts global consumption of SAF could reach 14 billion litres by 2030 in a base case scenario, with a market value of $16.4 billion, according to the 2025 edition of its Global Sustainable Aviation Fuel Outlook 2030. This is a significant rise from the just over 2.1 billion litres it estimates for 2025. The increase is being driven by tightening SAF mandates, voluntary market options and corporate net zero targets, it says. In cCarbon’s accelerated growth scenario, the SAF market could expand to as much as $24.2 billion by 2030. The study includes regional market shares of supply and demand; production forecasts by technology pathway and feedstocks; key policies and incentives driving adoption at a national and sub-national level; profiles of major industry players; and a detailed database of over 200 SAF production facilities worldwide, both operational and planned.