Shows
The SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: National Laboratory of the Rockies - Aligning academia and industryThe final episode of 2025 brings a fresh perspective as The SAF Podcast welcomes its first Academic, Alon Lidor from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory).Alon shares his fascinating journey from aerospace engineering to sustainable aviation fuel research, including his work on solar-driven thermochemical processes at ETH Zurich and his current role at NLR. The conversation explores his groundbreaking research on chemical looping technology for syngas production, which promises to overcome traditional reverse water-gas shift reaction limitations and significantly reduce downstream separation costs in SAF production.A highlight of...
2025-12-1743 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Avioxx - Developing cleantech and the learnings from fintechOn this week's episode of The SAF Podcast Chris Hancock, Avioxx joins Oscar to share their waste-to-fuel technology and their UK project development strategy. Chris begins by sharing his journey from fintech entrepreneur to cleantech innovator, explaining some of the parallels between the early days of fintech and today's nascent SAF industry.We also dive into Avioxx's off-grid approach integrating Fischer-Tropsch reactors with solid oxide fuel cells, enabling the plant to generate its own electricity and potentially achieve an 80% reduction in electricity costs. The result aims to tackle the two hardest cost drivers in SAF—pur...
2025-12-1044 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Nexen Biosystems - How celebrity tequila brands are helping develop next gen SAFIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson sits down with Hamid, Francis and Sergio from Nexen Biosystems to explore one of the most unconventional and interesting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstocks emerging today: tequila bagasse.With what seems like every celebrity wanting to start a tequila brand. The market over recent years has boomed, creating an abundant amount of year round feedstock. Tequila production is tightly concentrated by denomination rules, so residues are steady, local, and available at favorable terms because they’re a disposal headache for distillers. Agave bagasse is pre-cooked and pressed dur...
2025-11-2651 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Exolum - Stocking the shelves for SAF's superhighwayIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson welcomes back Gorka Penalva, Exolum, to discuss the company’s latest milestone — the launch of its new SAF blending facility at Redcliffe Bay in the UK. Gorka shares how Exolum is transforming its legacy fuel infrastructure to support a low-carbon future and reveals the vision behind what they’re calling the “SAF Superhighway.”Exolum is taking bold steps forward in the SAF market, moving beyond the traditional wait-and-see approach that has characterized much of the industry. As an independent storage company operating...
2025-11-0631 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Alaska Airlines - Focusing on what you can controlIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, Diana Birkett Rakow, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Alaska Airlines and incoming CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, joins Oscar for a deep dive into how the airlines are shaping their SAF strategy and how it plays into overall emissions reductions ambitions. We dig into Alaska’s five-part path to net zero by 2040—operational efficiency, fleet renewal, SAF, new propulsion and airframes, and only then high-quality removals—and why the middle lever, sustainable aviation fuel, is the one that can move em...
2025-10-1548 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Catagen - The modular route to decentralised SAF supplyHot off the heels of their public announcement, Mel Courtney, Catagen is the latest guest on The SAF Podcast. We discuss the spinning out of Catagen ClimaHtech Green Flight, utilizing the technology honed in the 15 years of emissions testing, for their modular sustainable aviation fuel facilities through electrified reverse water gas shift Fischer-Tropsch. Unlike conventional centralized refineries, their modular approach produces between one and ten million liters of neat SAF annually, designed to co-locate with existing renewable energy infrastructure. This strategy unlocks untapped potential from smaller wind farms across the UK and Europe that typically go...
2025-10-0846 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: PA Consulting - From Cacophony to SymphonyThis week on The SAF Podcast Kata Cserep and Salem Esber, PA Consulting join Oscar to discuss the recent Cacophony to Symphony: Successfully Scaling Sustainable Aviation Fuel report. With nearly 600 survey participants spanning airlines, airports, fuel producers, investors, and policymakers, the report reveals critical challenges in scaling SAF—most notably fragmentation across the ecosystem, cost barriers, and policy misalignment. Kata, an aviation strategist, and Salem, an energy and finance specialist, bring complementary perspectives on how aviation and energy must converge to unlock commercial-scale SAF.The conversation emphasizes that while no single stakeholder has solved the SAF...
2025-09-2449 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: EcoCeres - Planting the seeds for SAF's bumper harvestThis week Matti Lievonen, EcoCeres joins Oscar on The SAF Podcast. Matti shares insights from his illustrious career from the transition from traditional refining at Neste to pioneering renewable fuel production in the rapidly expanding Asian SAF market.The conversation reveals the company's innovative approach to feedstock traceability, managing relationships with over 100,000 restaurants for used cooking oil collection, and their breakthrough "easy tracer" technology that tracks feedstock origins down to individual 30-kilogram contributions.This startup mentality, backed by significant investment from Bain Capital, has enabled rapid expansion with facilities in China and Malaysia collectively producing...
2025-09-1746 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: ASAFA - Developing Asia's SAF roadThis week on The SAF Podcast we turn both eyes and ears to Asia with the three founders of the Asian SAF Association, Fabrice Espinosa, Gabriel Ho and Dietmar Posselt. Covering 48 vastly differing countries from the Middle East across to APAC, ASAFA aim is to promote production levels to decarbonise the regions growing aviation footprint.Rather than waiting for perfect policy frameworks, Asian countries are taking practical steps forward, setting achievable targets that create immediate momentum. This cultural pragmatism, coupled with abundant feedstock resources and growing refining capacity, positions Asia to potentially leapfrog other regions in sustainable...
2025-09-101h 03The SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Gidara Energy - SAF Technology For Your Eyes OnlyEver wondered what MI6 was evaluating after World War II that could help solve our aviation climate crisis today? The answer lies in a century-old technology that's experiencing a remarkable revival.Peter-Paul Langerak of Gidara Energy joins us this week to take us through the evolution of High Temperature Winkler (HTW) gasification technology – from its 1920s origins through its refinement during WWII to its commercial deployment in the 1990s producing biomethanol from waste. Now owned by Gidara Energy, this technology offers a proven solution for converting municipal waste, biomass, and agricultural residues into clean syngas that can be...
2025-09-0348 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Emerging Fuels Technology - Why Biogas is more than just hot air for SAFIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, David Lloyd from Emerging Fuel Technology joins Oscar to discuss sustainable aviation fuel production, biogas feedstocks, and the challenges of scaling renewable fuel projects. Lloyd, a former airline strategy executive turned SAF technology entrepreneur, shares his transition from Qantas to the emerging fuels sector and explains why biogas represents an untapped opportunity in sustainable aviation fuel production.The conversation explores Fischer-Tropsch technology's century-long history, from World War Two applications to its modern applications in renewable fuel production. Lloyd argues that biogas and renewable natural gas offer significant advantages over traditional...
2025-08-271h 10The SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: AIRCO - The art of revenue generation during developmentThis week on The SAF Podcast we are joined by Greg Constantine, Co-Founder & CEO, AIRCO (Formerly Air Company). Originally from Australia, Greg explains the strategy behind building out technology development from revenue generating consumer products like carbon negative Vodka, hand sanitizer and perfume building towards production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. This allows for ongoing revenue generation and less reliance on raising outside investment. Constantine explains their technology-licensing business model, contrasting it with the capital-intensive mega-project approaches favored by many competitors in the power-to-liquid (PTL) space. This strategy allows them to avoid massive FID funding rounds wh...
2025-08-2047 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Synhelion - Harnessing the power of the sunIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, host Oscar Henderson speaks with Gianluca Ambrosetti, CEO and co-founder of Synhelion, to explore the future of solar fuels and their role in scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. Synhelion’s pioneering thermochemical process converts CO₂ and biomass-derived carbon into renewable liquid fuels using high-temperature solar heat and thermal energy storage—delivering continuous, 24/7 production without relying on costly green hydrogen.Gianluca shares his journey from physicist to clean-energy entrepreneur, explains the technical differences between solar fuels, e-fuels, and biofue...
2025-08-1352 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: SMBC - All things not the same for equity and debt financingIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, we sit down with Martin Forman, Director at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), to explore the challenges and opportunities in financing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects. With a background spanning energy M&A, hydrogen, CCS, and biofuels, Martin brings a pan-European and global view on decarbonisation finance.We discuss why Japanese institutions—particularly trading houses and banks—have become such active SAF investors, and how Japan’s domestic SAF mandates are triggering large-scale international investments. Martin explains SMBC’s strategic interest across the SAF value chain, from project lending to aircraft...
2025-07-1639 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Honeywell - Evolving, acquiring and forming alliancesIn this episode of The SAF Podcast we are joined by Richard Mathers, Senior Director of Business Development at Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions, for an in-depth exploration of Honeywell’s expanding role in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology. If you follow any form of SAF news, you will have heard of Honeywell given their announcements of the ongoing $1.8bn all cash acquisition of Johnson Matthey's Catalyst Technology solutions business and the formation of the SAF Alliance alongside Johnson Matthey, Samsung Electronics E&A, GIDARA Energy. These collaborations aim to streamline project delivery, reduce capital expenditure by up to...
2025-07-0947 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: The now annual SkyNRG and ICF SAF Market Outlook reviewThis week's SAF Podcast is our now annual deep dive into the global SAF Market Outlook from SkyNRG and ICF. This year we were joined by Anna Liznerova, SkyNRG and Mark Kelly, ICF. After weeks of late nights and weekends on this extra curricular project they share key insights and methodologies from the report.The conversation kicks off with the key takeaways from the report notably, Europe's role as the backbone of SAF demand with strong mandates requiring over one million tonnes in 2025, rising to four million tonnes by 2030. Despite Europe driving demand, it represents only 18% of...
2025-07-0250 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Jim Stonecipher - Fulcrum BioEnergy and a cautionary tale for SAF ProductionIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, we are joined by Jim Stonecipher, Managing Director at EdyMac and former executive at Fulcrum BioEnergy. With over 30 years of chemical engineering experience, Jim offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at Fulcrum's high-profile journey—from promise to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company's ambitious vision to convert municipal solid waste into sustainable aviation fuel represented a promising technological pathway, but faced numerous obstacles—from COVID-related supply chain disruptions to fundamental issues with technology scale-up and integration.The conversation explores the delicate balance between technological development and financial reality, revealing how the notor...
2025-06-2546 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Gulfstream - Getting sandy in SAF's beachheadThis week on the SAF Podcast Smitha Hariharan, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Gulfstream Aerospace, discusses how one of the leading business jet manufacturer is pioneering sustainability through a comprehensive three-pillar strategy that balances environmental responsibility with business performance, with a heavy focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuel since 2011. From Gulfstream's groundbreaking 2011 transatlantic flight using 50% SAF to their 2023 achievement of flying a G600 from Savannah to Farnborough with 100% SAF in both engines (a full week before Virgin Atlantic's much-publicized commercial demonstration). Hariharan reveals Gulfstream's comprehensive sustainability strategy built on three pillars: aircraft efficiency, operational im...
2025-06-1932 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance - Removing the barrier to corporate market entryThis week Andre de Fontaine, Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) joins us on The SAF Podcast. Founded in 2021, SABA has been at the forefront of driving the Book and Claim conversation and allowing corporates to purchase SAF for their operations when they cannot control what fuel they fly on. Andre explains how SABA has grown to include approximately 35 major companies—including BCG, Bank of America, Netflix, and Meta—that share ambitious climate targets and significant aviation footprints. Together, they've facilitated around $200 million worth of SAF certificates representing 50 million gallons of sustainable fuel. The evolution has been dramatic; what...
2025-06-0437 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Avia Solutions Group - Unleasing Baltic SAF ProductionIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, we welcome Gediminas Ziemelis, Founder and Chairman of Avia Solutions Group, to discuss the company’s move into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production through its NorSAF project. As the world’s largest wet-leasing provider, Avia Solutions Group operates across six continents and is now leveraging its extensive infrastructure to help decarbonize aviation.Gediminas shares how the company is developing a state-of-the-art SAF and eSAF production facility in Liepāja, Latvia, strategically positioned to serve the Baltic, Nordic, and Central European regions. He reveals how acquiring an existing oil storage terminal has s...
2025-05-2845 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast with Dani Charles, Veriflux: AI as the co-pilot for complianceIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, we welcome back our first returning guest, Dani Charles, CEO and Co-Founder of Veriflux. Following his deep dive into U.S. policy in his first appearance, Dani returns to unpack the increasingly critical—and complex—world of feedstock traceability in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and how AI can could be the secret to doing it accurately at scale. Dani explains why relying on spreadsheets are no longer viable at scale and how best-of-breed technology is essential for managing dynamic trade flows, compliance uncertainty, and complex conversions across liquid, solid, and ga...
2025-05-2147 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast : AfriSAF - Tapping into SAF's continental sleeping giantThis week we are joined on The SAF Podcast by Kwame Bekoe, AfriSAF. With over 20 years of aviation experience spanning engineering, sales, and sustainability, Kwame shares his vision for Africa as a major player in the global SAF industry. He discusses how the continent’s vast agricultural residue—estimated at over 150 million tons annually—can be leveraged to produce SAF, fostering energy independence and economic growth.We examine AfriSAF’s model of integrating smallholder farmers into a data-driven supply chain, using digital platforms and pilot biodigester projects to prove the value of waste-to-energy conversion. Kwame outlines how AfriSAF...
2025-04-3046 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast with Robert Courts: Pulling back the curtain on UK policy developmentIn this episode of The SAF Podcast, we go behind the curtain of UK sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) policy with former Aviation Minister and former Member of Parliament for the UK Robert Courts. Listeners will gain a rare glimpse into the complexities of government policymaking—from managing cross-departmental collaboration and limited civil service bandwidth to ensuring stakeholder engagement and long-term adaptability.Courts candidly addresses industry concerns about implementation timelines, revealing the unavoidable bandwidth limitations within government and the necessity of thorough consultation. He takes us through the formation of the Jet Zero Council (now Task For...
2025-04-1653 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Innovate UK Business Connect: Connecting SAF's dot to dot In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar sits down with Michelle Carter, Head of Transport at Innovate UK Business Connect, to explore the current state and future trajectory of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the UK. With over a decade of experience in SAF, Michelle offers a unique lens into the evolution of the UK’s SAF ecosystem—from early-stage innovation to national mandates and public awareness. The conversation delves into the UK's position in the global SAF market, revealing that the country attracts just over 1% of global SAF investment, with a surprising 29% focused on power-to-liquid techno...
2025-04-0948 minThe SAF PodcastThe SAF Podcast: Aether Fuels - Pulling SAF out of thin airConnor Madigan, founder of Aether Fuels, joins Oscar on this week's episode of The SAF Podcast. Madigan shares his journey from founding a successful OLED manufacturing equipment company to pioneering a transformative approach to SAF technology through Aether's Aurora solution. At the heart of our conversation is Aether Fuels' Aurora technology, developed with GTI Energy, which reimagines the traditional Fischer-Tropsch process for sustainable fuel production. By focusing on the syngas generation and upgrading steps, their system achieves up to 50% capital cost reduction and 20% higher yields than conventional approaches. Conor expertly breaks down how their "tri-conversion" reactor and inn...
2025-03-2651 min