A project to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from left-over forestry biomass including wood chips and bark has taken a step forward.
Nova Sustainable Fuels is moving ahead with its plans to develop a Renewable Energy Park which will be located in Goldboro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The project proposal, which received first phase environmental assessment approval from Nova Scotia’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change during the final quarter of 2025, will see the construction of facilities to produce 165 000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel and around 450 000 tonnes of renewable methanol each year. The production will be based on waste biomass feedstock from Nova Scotia’s forestry-based industries. In supporting the project Nova Scotia’s government said that it would create a new market for Nova Scotia’s oversupply of biomass from forestry.
The project is the first phase of a larger Canada Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project producing sustainable fuel and other low carbon co-products from local biomass and renewable electricity. Nova, which is backed by Octopus Energy, said that it intends to submit a second environmental assessment in 2027 for the renewable power generation components of the project.
The sustainable fuels will be produced using a “fully integrated clean-energy system” that will bring together more than 1 GW of renewable electricity generated from NSF’s planned solar and wind farms, along with the local sustainable biomass and water. Under the current schedule, construction will start during 2028, with the facilities becoming operational during 2031. The project is expected to lead to the creation of around 1000 jobs during the construction phase and up to 80 jobs once operational.
The project is being supported by Thyssenkrupp Uhde, which was awarded a contract to provide its process technology called Prenflo. This gasification technology, which converts the biomass to syngas, will be combined with an advanced methanol synthesis process, also from Thyssenkrupp Uhde. The methanol provides the feedstock for the SAF. Thyssenkrupp Uhde will also perform an integration and optimisation study for Nova's biomass-to-methanol project
With Thyssenkrupp Uhde providing both process technologies, Nova said that it will look to “validate the benefits in both overall system integration and the future bankability of the project.”
Demand for renewable fuels is set to grow, with a paper from the World Economic Forum published in February 2025 indicating that by 2030, global demand for SAF could reach 17 million tonnes per year, representing 4-5% of total jet fuel consumption.
Further reading:
- BP and Corteva launch biofuel feedstock joint venture
- Bayer and Neste work on feedstocks for renewable fuels
- Eni's biorefinery and chemical recycling plant moves forward
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