Topsoe, Carbon Neutral Fuels join forces to advance eSAF with SOEC electrolyzer technology
- Topsoe
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Topsoe, a leading global provider of advanced technology and solutions for the energy transition, announced Dec. 9 that it has signed a front-end engineering design (FEED) agreement with Carbon Neutral Fuels based on Topsoe’s state-of-the-art solid-oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) electrolyzers for CNF’s commercial-scale electro sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) project called Project Starling.
This agreement marks the first commercial application of Topsoe’s SOEC technology for use in commercial SAF production.
“Incorporating our SOEC technology into Carbon Neutral Fuels’ SAF project is a moment of significant pride for Topsoe,” said Sundus Cordelia Ramli, Topsoe’s chief commercial officer of Power-to-X. “Carbon Neutral Fuels is at the frontier of the U.K.’s decarbonization ambitions, delivering a significant SAF project using mature and diversified production technologies. We’re pleased to have them onboard as our first SOEC customer for commercial SAF production, and we’re excited to help deliver the project alongside the project’s consortium.”
Alasdair Lumsden, the co-founder at Carbon Neutral Fuels, added, “We’re thrilled to have Topsoe as our SOEC partner in the ASAP-DAC project. The levels of data and research backing the efficacy of their technologies were instrumental in building confidence in their product, and we look forward to doing our share in regards to the decarbonization of the aviation sector and deliver on the U.K.’s Jet Zero initiatives.”
The electrolyzer stacks for the project will be delivered from Topsoe’s SOEC manufacturing facility based in Herning, Denmark.
First deliveries are expected in 2028 pending CNF taking final-investment decision (FID) on the project.
Located in Workington, U.K., the Starling project is a first-of-a-kind power-to-liquid eFuel facility aiming to use Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyzers, which will consume 120 megawatts of green power to produce 25,000 metric tons of eSAF per year.
The project is currently undergoing the FEED stage with construction planned for 2028 and operations targeted for 2031.
Once fully operational, the facility is projected to achieve an 89 percent reduction in lifecycle emissions compared to fossil jet fuel, making a significant contribution to the U.K.’s climate targets.
In July, Project Starling received the largest grant awarded to an eFuels company, comprising £6 million (USD$7.98 million), out of 17 projects from the U.K. Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuel Fund Window 3, which aims to accelerate the development of the U.K.’s SAF sector and support delivery of the government’s Jet Zero Strategy and SAF mandate.
Topsoe’s SOEC electrolysis technology is a modular design that operates at significantly higher temperatures compared to other electrolyzer technologies—a tested and proven process that enables industrial-scale production of green hydrogen using renewable electricity.
Topsoe’s SOEC electrolyzer produces more hydrogen per unit of power input than alkaline or proton-exchange membrane (PEM) technologies—achieving around 20 percent higher efficiency, which can increase to 30 percent with steam integration—yielding significantly greater hydrogen output.
It further allows for the lowest levelized hydrogen cost per megawatt volume, no matter the industry.
Carbon Neutral Fuels is one of Europe’s leading power-to-liquid companies, pioneering the development of sustainable eFuels.
It has two key projects in its pipeline.
Project Starling, formerly ASAP-DAC, the U.K.’s first-of-a-kind power-to-liquid eFuel facility with planned capability to deliver 25,000 tons of eSAF annually and the upcoming ASAP-MTJ methanol-to-jet facility, currently at pre-FEED stage and planning to produce more than 200,000 tons of SAF per year.
