The UK cleantech business Nova Pangaea Technologies Ltd has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate with NorSAF, the company behind the Baltic’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project, to develop an advanced ethanol production plant in Latvia to supply the new facility.
The proposed ethanol plant will use locally sourced wood waste to make ethanol using Nova Pangaea’s proprietary REFNOVA technology.
REFNOVA converts waste biomass into ethanol and biochar, a valuable co-product that permanently captures carbon and makes the whole process carbon-negative.
The ethanol will be used by NorSAF as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel production using PureSAF, an alcohol-to-jet (AtJ) pathway invented by Swedish Biofuels AB and licensed by KBR, at its planned SAF/eSAF facility in the Port of Liepāja.
NorSAF already operates a liquid oil and chemical product storage and transshipment terminal in the Port of Liepāja. SAF/eSAF production at the planned 100,000 tonnes per annum facility is currently expected to begin in 2031.
This strategic collaboration will ensure we have carbon-negative ethanol to feed NorSAF’s SAF project, using locally sourced biomass waste. This is a blueprint for the type of partnerships we need to scale SAF production in the UK, Europe and beyond – enhancing energy security, building a new domestic industry that generates jobs and economic growth while reducing fossil-fuel emissions. It also demonstrates the potential for UK cleantech companies like Nova Pangaea to use their intellectual property to generate export revenue and drive the UK’s knowledge economy, said Jonathan Wood, CCO of Nova Pangaea Technologies.
Address increasing SAF demand
The partnership aims to address the challenge of meeting Europe’s increasing demand for SAF while developing more resilient, locally sourced supply chains.
Under the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, European aviation fuel suppliers are required to increase the share of SAF at EU airports: from 2 percent in 2025 to 6 percent in 2030, and jumping to 20 percent by 2035.
While Europe manufactures a significant portion of its current SAF domestically, production relies heavily on imported waste fats and used cooking oil (UCO).
Approximately 85 percent of Europe’s SAF feedstocks come from overseas, with China alone accounting for 61 percent.
Waste biomass such as agricultural and forestry residues, on the other hand, offers a viable alternative, particularly in countries like Latvia, where these bioresources are abundant.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), there is sufficient available waste biomass in Europe to produce enough SAF to meet Europe’s SAF targets for 2050.
Europe cannot strengthen its energy security simply by reducing fossil-fuel imports. We also need to build the industrial capacity to produce the clean fuels that will replace them. Right now, Europe is dangerously dependent on overseas feedstocks like used cooking oil, leaving our aviation sector vulnerable to international supply chain shocks. By tapping into Europe’s own abundant waste resources, particularly those available in the Baltic region, we can build a resilient, domestic supply chain from the ground up. Our partnership with Nova Pangaea is a crucial milestone in developing that strategic capability right here in Latvia, ensuring our future SAF production is sustainable, secure, and locally anchored, said Jānis Kisiels, Founder and Board Member of NorSAF.
Latvian connection
The partnership builds on Nova Pangaea’s work with British Airways and LanzaJet on Project Speedbird, a UK government-supported initiative to develop SAF from non-food agricultural and woody biomass.
Nova Pangaea’s technology also has a notable Latvian connection as it is based on research conducted at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC) in Riga, before further development work in the UK.
Nova Pangaea Technologies is based in Teesside, where it has a demonstration plant.
