Renewable energy company Phelan Green Hydrogen says it has licensed technologies from advanced metals chemistry company Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies for its planned electro‑sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) facility in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Johnson Matthey’s HyCOgen technology uses a catalysed process to convert CO₂ and electrolytic, or green, hydrogen into carbon monoxide (CO). This CO is then combined with additional hydrogen to form syngas.

HyCOgen technology integrates with the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) CANS technology, which converts syngas into synthetic crude oil, supporting overall process efficiency. The FT CANS technology was jointly developed and co-owned by Johnson Matthey and oil and energy company bp.

The synthetic crude oil will then be upgraded to produce synthetic paraffinic kerosene, says Phelan Green.

“Securing these licence and engineering agreements with Johnson Matthey completes the technology backbone of our project,” says Phelan Green Group MD Blair Phelan.

“We are now ready to turn renewable energy, CO₂ and water into SAF, and to prove that eSAF can be produced at commercial scale in South Africa.”

Construction of the facility in Saldanha Bay is expected to start by the end of this year and is part of the wider Phelan Green Hydrogen Project, which requires an investment of about R47-billion.

The Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies licence win represents the first phase of the project. When completed, it is expected to be one of the world’s first commercial-scale eSAF production facilities, able to produce about 35 000 t/y of eSAF, which is intended for sale into the EU and UK markets.

This volume will be the equivalent of producing up to 6% of the EU and UK’s mandated eSAF volumes for 2030.

Once all phases are complete, the facility is expected to supply about 140 000 t/y of eSAF.

“Phelan Green’s planned eSAF facility in the Western Cape will be one of the world’s first commercial-scale eSAF facilities and a clear signal that SAF can scale today. It also marks Johnson Matthey’s first deployment of HyCOgen and FT CANS in Africa,” says Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies CEO Alberto Giovanzana.