NorSAF, Nova Pangaea Technologies sign MOU to develop Latvian waste-biomass-to-SAF supply chain
The Latvian company developing the Baltic’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project, NorSAF, has agreed to collaborate with U.K. clean-tech company Nova Pangaea Technologies to develop an advanced ethanol production plant in Latvia to supply NorSAF’s SAF facility.
The project will use locally sourced wood waste to make ethanol using Nova Pangaea’s proprietary technology.
The partnership aims to address Europe’s growing challenge of meeting increasing demand for SAF while developing more resilient and locally sourced feedstock supply chains.
Over the coming decade, SAF production must scale up dramatically.
Under EU regulations, aviation-fuel suppliers are required to sharply increase the share of SAF at EU airports, rising 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 hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology.
Meeting regulated targets with this method requires importing vast quantities of feedstocks like used cooking oil (UCO).
Approximately 85 percent of Europe’s SAF feedstocks already come from overseas, with China alone accounting for 61 percent.
Although production capacity is technically on track to meet near-term goals in 2030, doing so with overwhelming reliance on imported feedstocks like Chinese UCO threatens supply-chain security, according to Nova Pangaea.
“As demand accelerates, Europe must secure sustainable feedstocks that are locally available and independent of fragile overseas trade networks,” the company said. “Agricultural and forestry residues present strong regional alternatives, particularly in countries like Latvia, where these biobased resources are abundant. Tapping into this potential requires advanced SAF plants, such as NorSAF, which harness innovative technologies to produce high-performance aviation fuels from alternative local feedstocks.”
Nova Pangaea’s Refnova® technology converts waste biomass, such as woody and agricultural residues that are plentiful in Latvia, into ethanol and biochar, a valuable coproduct that permanently captures carbon and, according to the company, makes the whole process carbon negative.
The resulting locally sourced ethanol can then be converted into SAF through the alcohol-to-jet pathway as part of NorSAF’s planned SAF production.
“Europe cannot strengthen its energy security simply by reducing fossil-fuel imports,” said Janis Kisiels, the founder and board member of NorSAF. “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.”
Jonathan Wood, the chief commercial officer of Nova Pangaea, added, “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 Europe and all regions of the world, enhancing energy security, building a new domestic industry that generates jobs and economic growth while reducing fossil-fuel emissions. According to the International Air Transport Association, there is sufficient waste biomass available in Europe to produce enough SAF to meet Europe’s ambitious SAF targets for 2050.”
This partnership builds on Nova Pangaea’s work with British Airways and LanzaJet on Project Speedbird, a U.K. government-supported initiative to develop SAF from nonfood agricultural and woody biomass.
The collaboration also has a notable Latvian connection—Nova Pangaea’s technology is based on research conducted at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry in Riga, before further development and demonstration work in the U.K.
The proposed Latvian project would bring the technology back to its early research roots while creating a new potential local supply of advanced ethanol for NorSAF’s planned SAF production facility in Liepāja.
NorSAF currently operates a liquid-oil and chemical-product storage and transshipment terminal in the Liepāja Special Economic Zone and is working on developing a facility to produce SAF and eSAF at the Port of Liepāja using KBR’s PureSAF® technology, originally invented and developed by Swedish Biofuels.
Production is currently expected to begin in 2031.
The proposed Latvian-feedstock project complements this development by exploring the potential to source part of the raw material required for future SAF production from using forestry and agricultural waste available in the region.
The world’s largest aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) provider Avia Solutions Group is acting as a partner on the project.
NorSAF will benefit from access to the group’s aviation infrastructure, including its subsidiary Baltic Ground Services, which has extensive experience in SAF supply and distribution.
