Latvian fuel developer NorSAF has signed a memorandum of understanding with UK-based Nova Pangaea Technologies. The two companies plan to build an advanced ethanol facility in Latvia.
The plant will turn forestry residues and agricultural waste into industrial ethanol and biochar. It will use Nova Pangaea’s REFNOVA technology. Both feedstocks are locally sourced.
The ethanol will serve as the main alcohol feedstock for NorSAF’s planned SAF and eSAF facility in the Liepāja Special Economic Zone. That site will use KBR’s PureSAF technology. It converts ethanol into drop-in jet fuel through the Alcohol-to-Jet pathway. Commercial operations are targeted for 2031.
The project responds to a gap in Europe’s SAF supply chain. EU rules call for SAF blending to rise from 2% in 2025 to 6% in 2030 and 20% by 2035. Current European output relies heavily on HEFA pathways. These depend on imported feedstocks such as used cooking oil.
NorSAF founder Janis Kisiels said Europe needs more than lower fossil fuel imports. It also needs the capacity to make clean fuels. He said regional waste resources can support a domestic supply chain.
The deal also marks a return to Latvian roots for Nova Pangaea. Its core extraction processes grew out of research at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry in Riga. The company later scaled the technology commercially in the UK.
NorSAF is backed by strategic partner Avia Solutions Group and its subsidiary Baltic Ground Services. The company aims to link the full value chain. That runs from forestry waste collection to airport fuel distribution across the Baltic market.
