NorSAF and Nova Pangaea Technologies Sign MoU to Develop Latvian Waste Biomass-to-SAF Supply Chain

Nova Pangaea to help develop ethanol plant for Baltic’s largest sustainable aviation fuel project.

Partnership aims to build a domestic European supply chain for sustainable aviation fuel as demand for SAF grows.

The UK cleantech business Nova Pangaea Technologies has agreed 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 plant will use locally sourced wood waste to make ethanol using Nova Pangaea’s proprietary technology. The partnership aims to address the challenge of meeting Europe’s increasing demand for SAF while developing more resilient and locally sourced supply chains.

Under EU regulations, aviation fuel suppliers are required to sharply increase the share of SAF at EU airports, rising from 2% in 2025 to 6% in 2030, and jumping to 20% by 2035.

While Europe manufactures a significant portion of its current SAF domestically, production relies heavily on imported waste fats and cooking oil. Approximately 85% of Europe’s SAF feedstocks come from overseas, with China alone accounting for 61%. Waste biomass such as agricultural and forestry residues offers a viable alternative, particularly in countries like Latvia, where these bio-resources are abundant.

Nova Pangaea’s REFNOVA® technology converts waste biomass into ethanol, which can be used to make SAF, as well as biochar, a valuable co-product which permanently captures carbon and makes the whole process carbon negative. The ethanol produced in the new plant will be used to supply NorSAF’s planned SAF production facility in Latvia.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), there is sufficient waste biomass available in Europe to produce enough SAF to meet Europe’s SAF targets for 2050.

Jonathan Wood, CCO of Nova Pangaea, said: “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.”

Janis Kisiels, founder and Board Member of NorSAF, said: “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.”

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. The company is based in Teesside, where it has a demonstration plant.

NorSAF currently operates a liquid oil and chemical product storage and transshipment terminal in Liepāja and is working on developing a SAF and eSAF production facility. Production is currently expected to begin in 2031.