NorSAF joint venture plans to build large SAF refinery in Liepāja, Latvia

Photo: NorSAF

Avia Solutions Group and Latvian partners have launched a NorSAF joint-venture project to develop what they say will be the largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production plant in Northern Europe, to be built in the Liepaja Special Economic Zone in Latvia.

The fuel produced will be supplied to aviation companies in Northern Europe and exported to markets worldwide.

Production is expected to start in 2030 with a capacity of approximately 100,000 tons of SAF annually, making the NorSAF plant the largest SAF facility in Northern Europe, according to the joint venture.

Its cost is estimated at between 500 million and 600 million euros (between USD$586 million and USD$703 million), depending on the selected technological solution.

Since this project will compete on a global scale, NorSAF said its successful implementation depends on the support it receives from the European Union, institutional investors and governmental bodies.

Often referred to as the future of aviation, SAF emits significantly fewer greenhouse gases compared to conventional jet fuel.

Starting this year, the European Union requires at least 2 percent of all fuel used at airports to be SAF.

This mandate will gradually increase—reaching 6 percent by 2030, 20 percent by 2035 and 70 percent by 2050.

Gediminas Ziemelis, the founder and chairman of Avia Solutions Group, noted that the future development of the aviation sector will be directly linked to new sustainability standards.

“The currently available SAF production volume is insufficient to meet the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel in the coming years,” Ziemelis said. “The EU regulations foresee an increase in SAF use, rising each year. Once the NorSAF plant is operational, it will play a crucial role in ensuring sufficient SAF availability for the aviation sector.”

This ambitious project marks the group’s first step into aviation fuel production.

The technological implementation will be handled by the group’s subsidiary Baltic Ground Services, which has extensive experience in SAF supply and distribution.

The new plant will use PureSAF technology, developed by Swedish Biofuels AB and exclusively licensed to the U.S. engineering firm KBR.

It has been proven that this technology reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 93 percent compared to conventional jet fuel.

“It should be noted that by 2030, another important requirement will come into effect—1.2 percent of all supplied SAF must be synthetic,” said Vytautas Cekanavičius, CEO of Baltic Ground Services and board member of NorSAF. “This type of fuel is produced without biological components. Instead, green energy is used to generate hydrogen, which is then mixed with carbon dioxide. This requirement will also increase gradually, and by 2050, half of all SAF fuel will have to be synthetic. So, changes in the aviation sector are already underway at full speed.”

Using PureSAF technology, NorSAF will be able to produce both SAF and eSAF from bioethanol, hydrogen and captured CO2, making the full green-energy cycle a central feature of the project.

Green electricity will power electrolysis for green-hydrogen production, which will then be combined with captured CO2 and ethanol to create SAF and eSAF.

The use of captured CO2 in fuel production will be especially environmentally beneficial, NorSAF stated.

KBR is conducting a feasibility study, expected to be completed in the second half of 2025.

Project work is expected to begin shortly thereafter.

“Much of the infrastructure we need already exists in the Liepaja Special Economic Zone—gas pipelines and railway lines are available, ethanol transshipment is already ongoing and a green-hydrogen plant is planned,” Cekanavicius said. “We are currently in talks with a major company from which we could purchase carbon dioxide to use a portion of it in synthetic SAF production.”

Board member of LSEZ SIA NorSAF, Janis Kisiels, is confident the results of the feasibility study conducted by KBR will allow the project to move forward this year so the plant can begin production by 2030.

“NorSAF is working closely with potential suppliers, partners, investors and EU institutions to begin SAF plant construction as early as 2027,” Kisiels said. “With a proper balance of costs and revenues, Latvia can become a successful platform for the development and export of sustainable fuel production. At the same time, the country would gain access to affordable and sustainable fuel, promoting national economic development and ensuring energy independence. This is crucial in today’s context of geopolitical instability. The project opens lucrative cooperation opportunities for local solar, wind and biomass energy producers and offers possibilities to expand and produce for export.”

It is estimated the new plant in Liepaja will produce 100,000 tons of SAF annually.

For comparison, currently, airports in the three Baltic countries consume about 400,000 tons of aviation fuel.

According to the current EU 2 percent mandate, the local market only requires approximately 8,000 tons of SAF.

eSAF is a synthetic fuel made from renewable energy.

Its production begins with renewable electricity from sources like solar, hydro and wind used for electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen is then combined with captured CO2 from atmospheric, biogenic or industrial sources in a reverse water-gas shift process, forming carbon monoxide and water.

This synthetic gas is then processed via Fischer–Tropsch conversion with additional hydrogen into synthetic wax—a crude-oil alternative that can be refined into fuels like eSAF.

The carbon neutrality of eSAF stems from the fact that when burned, it releases only as much CO2 as was introduced into its production through direct carbon capture or existing industrial emissions.

The process uses electricity from renewable sources.