Sustainable Aviation
Honeywell Launches Biocrude Upgrading for Low Cost Renewable Fuels
Honeywell’s Biocrude Upgrading technology converts biomass into low-carbon marine fuel, SAF, and renewable gasoline compatible with existing infrastructure.
Honeywell Unveils Tech to Turn Biomass into Low-Cost Renewable Fuels
On October 28, 2025, Honeywell announced a new technology aimed at converting biomass, like agricultural and forestry waste, into renewable fuels. This development arrives at a critical moment, particularly for industries facing intense pressure to decarbonize, such as the maritime sector. The technology, named “Biocrude Upgrading,” is designed to produce drop-in fuels compatible with existing infrastructure, potentially lowering the barrier to entry for companies looking to adopt more Sustainability energy sources.
The core of the announcement centers on a process that upgrades an intermediate product known as biocrude, also called pyrolysis oil or HTL oil, into finished, high-quality fuels. This positions Honeywell’s innovation as a crucial mid-stream solution. Instead of handling the initial conversion of raw biomass, the technology focuses on refining the unstable biocrude into a stable, usable product. This approach addresses a long-standing challenge in the biofuels industry and could streamline the path from waste collection to fuel consumption.
While the primary target is the maritime industry, the technology’s flexibility allows for the production of SAF and renewable gasoline. This versatility significantly broadens its market potential, tapping into the rapidly growing demand for cleaner aviation fuels and alternatives to conventional gasoline. By offering a solution for multiple hard-to-abate sectors, Honeywell is positioning itself as a key player in the broader energy transition.
A Closer Look at Biocrude Upgrading Technology
Honeywell’s “Biocrude Upgrading” process technology is engineered to take biocrude, derived from sources like wood chips and crop residues, and refine it into a finished product. A key logistical advantage of this model is that the initial conversion of bulky biomass into denser biocrude can happen at or near the collection site, which helps keep transportation costs down. The more stable biocrude can then be transported to major refining facilities for the final upgrading process.
The output is a “drop-in” fuel, meaning it’s chemically similar to conventional fuels and can be used without requiring costly engine modifications or new infrastructure. For the maritime sector, this means a lower-carbon alternative to the heavy fuel oil that has dominated the industry for decades. Honeywell also highlights that its renewable marine fuel has a higher energy density than many existing biofuel alternatives, allowing vessels to extend their range.
Another significant feature is the modular design of the technology. Honeywell can deliver the Biocrude Upgrading process in a prefabricated modular plant. This approach can simplify on-site construction, reduce project timelines, and mitigate risks for customers. According to Ken West, President of Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions, this modular form offers savings “from the point of installation through to refining and use.”
“The maritime industry has a real need for renewable fuels that are immediately available and cost effective. Our Biocrude Upgrading processing technology can be delivered in modular form, offering savings from the point of installation through to refining and use.”
– Ken West, President of Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions.
Market Context: A Solution for Uncertain Times
Honeywell’s announcement is strategically timed. The maritime industry, which accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, is currently navigating significant regulatory uncertainty. The recent postponement of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Net-Zero Framework has left many shipowners hesitant to make large capital investments in new technologies or vessels. In this environment, cost-effective, drop-in solutions that work with the existing fleet are highly attractive.
Beyond the maritime sector, the market for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is projected to experience massive growth. Various forecasts point to a multi-billion dollar market within the next decade, driven by environmental regulations, airline sustainability goals, and growing consumer demand for greener travel. Biofuels are currently the dominant pathway for SAF production due to their commercial readiness. Honeywell’s technology, capable of producing SAF from biocrude, is well-positioned to capitalize on this expanding market.
The renewable gasoline market, while more complex, also presents an opportunity. Fuel ethanol, primarily made from biomass, is already a major component of the U.S. gasoline supply, where it is used for blending. Honeywell’s ability to produce a renewable naphtha suitable for gasoline blending allows it to tap into this established market. The emphasis on “drop-in” compatibility remains a key selling point across all targeted sectors.
Conclusion: Bridging the Gap in the Energy Transition
Honeywell’s Biocrude Upgrading technology represents a pragmatic and timely solution for industries struggling with decarbonization. By focusing on a flexible, modular, and cost-effective “drop-in” fuel, the company addresses the immediate needs of sectors like maritime and aviation without demanding a complete overhaul of existing infrastructure. The ability to use abundant and inexpensive feedstocks like agricultural and forestry waste further strengthens its economic viability.
This innovation is not just about a new product; it’s about providing a crucial link in the biofuel supply chain. By solving the challenge of refining unstable biocrude, Honeywell’s technology could unlock greater potential for biomass as a reliable energy source. As regulatory pressures and market demands for sustainable alternatives continue to grow, such versatile and ready-to-implement technologies will likely play a pivotal role in the global transition to a lower-carbon economy.
FAQ
Question: What is Honeywell’s new technology?
Answer: It is a “Biocrude Upgrading” process technology that converts biocrude, derived from biomass like wood chips and crop residues, into low-carbon renewable fuels.
Question: What types of fuel can it produce?
Answer: The technology can be adjusted to produce low-carbon marine fuel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and renewable gasoline (in the form of renewable naphtha for blending).
Question: What makes this technology a “drop-in” fuel?
Answer: The resulting fuels are compatible with existing engines and infrastructure, meaning they can be used without requiring costly modifications or upgrades for vessels, aircraft, or vehicles.
Sources
Sustainable Aviation
DHL Express Starts SAF Flights at Paris CDG With TotalEnergies Fuel
DHL Express signed a SAF deal with TotalEnergies covering 5 million liters in its first year for flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle.
DHL Express has signed a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement with TotalEnergies whose initial phase covers 5 million liters over one year, for aircraft departing its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is DHL Express’s first SAF use in France. The first SAF-powered DHL aircraft left CDG on November 9, 2026, the day the deal was announced.
In a press release dated November 9, 2026, issued from Bonn and Paris, DHL said it is the first express logistics provider to use SAF at CDG. The move coincides with the fifth anniversary of the Paris hub. DHL expects emission reductions of about 11,800 metric tons of CO2e a year in France, with the SAF flights running from CDG to its air hubs in Leipzig, Casablanca, Milan and London.
What the Paris agreement covers
DHL describes the deal as a first SAF supply agreement “over 5 million liters” for DHL Express air operations, and said its initial phase covers 5 million liters over the course of one year for aircraft departing the Paris CDG hub. DHL said the SAF is made from waste and residual materials such as used cooking oil, and works in existing aircraft and airport infrastructure without modifications. Compared with fossil jet fuel, it can cut lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by about 80%, depending on feedstock and production method.
The volumes will also be included in GoGreen Plus, DHL’s book-and-claim offering, which assigns emission reductions to customers even when their shipments do not physically travel on SAF. DHL said customers can use it to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. SHEIN signed a GoGreen Plus agreement with DHL Express in March 2026 to use SAF supplied by DHL for its international express air freight.
Travis Cobb, executive vice president of global network operations and aviation at DHL Express, pointed to the share of SAF already used in DHL’s own fleet:
“In 2025, SAF already accounted for 10% of the aviation fuel used across DHL’s own aircraft fleet”
Philippe Prétat, CEO of DHL Express France, said the opening of the Paris hub in 2021 marked a major milestone, and that SAF use shows that strong logistics performance and a lower carbon footprint can go together. Mathieu Soulas, director of new mobilities at TotalEnergies, said “Sustainable Aviation Fuels are a key lever for reducing aviation emissions today.”
How the deal compares with DHL’s SAF targets
At 5 million liters, the Paris deal is small next to the supply agreements DHL Express has signed elsewhere. In March 2022, DHL announced deals with bp and Neste for more than 800 million liters of SAF until 2026, which it described at the time as among the largest SAF deals in aviation. In May 2026, DHL Express signed an offtake agreement with SAF One for 25,000 metric tons of unblended SAF a year from a plant in Bahrain, with production planned for 2028.
DHL’s stated aim is to raise SAF use to 30 percent by 2030, a goal it restated in May 2026 and that also appears in the Sustainability Roadmap it cited in March 2022. DHL said in March 2026 that SAF accounted for about 10% of fuel consumption in its dedicated air fleet in 2025, up from 3.5% in 2024.
TotalEnergies has been expanding its SAF output in France. In a June 16, 2025 release, the company said it expects to produce more than half a million tons of SAF a year from 2028, to cover the increase in the European SAF blending mandate, set at 6% for 2030. It said its Grandpuits biorefinery would have capacity for 230,000 tons a year of SAF in 2026, and that SAF coprocessing had begun at its Normandy platform. The company said it supplies SAF-blended jet fuel to airports including Paris-Le Bourget, Bordeaux and Toulouse, and that Air France-KLM had signed a deal for up to 1.5 million tons of SAF over ten years.
The Paris CDG hub at five years
DHL opened the CDG hub in 2021 with a EUR170 million investment, which it describes as its largest in France since entering the country in 1976. The site occupies a 91,000-square-meter plot with 34,000 square meters of operational space, and its sorting system handles up to 38,000 parcels and documents per hour. The hub runs 24/7 and employs 760 people.
The AirPro Atlas lists 72,029,407 passengers at CDG in 2025.
DHL also cited ground-side measures in France. It said all of DHL Express France’s owned light commercial vehicles are electric, that it serves 55 French city centers with low-emission delivery modes, and that this supports DHL Group’s target of two-thirds last-mile electrification by 2030.
Sustainable Aviation
Singapore Airlines Signs SAF Offtake Deal with Aether Fuels
Singapore Airlines commits to buying SAF from Aether Fuels’ Project Beacon facility in Singapore, due online in 2028.
Singapore Airlines (SQ) has finalized a firm purchase agreement to offtake next-generation Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from Aether Fuels, becoming the first carrier to commit to the upcoming Project Beacon production facility in Singapore.
Announced in a joint press release on 28 October 2026, the agreement transitions a previous memorandum of understanding into a binding contract. The deal secures future fuel volumes to support the airline’s target of replacing 5 percent of its total fuel consumption with SAF by 2030.
Transitioning from framework to firm commitment
The 28 October 2026 announcement builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies on 4 February 2025. That initial framework outlined the airline’s intention to procure neat SAF for a five-year period, with an option to extend for an additional five years, once Aether commenced commercial production.
While the companies confirmed the transition to a firm offtake agreement, the exact fuel volumes and financial terms were not disclosed in the release.
Project Beacon and the Aurora technology
Aether Fuels, a climate technology firm incubated and funded in 2022 by Temasek-backed deep tech venture firm Xora, officially launched Project Beacon on 11 November 2025. The project is a partnership with Aster, a joint venture between Indonesian chemical and infrastructure company Chandra Asri and commodities trader Glencore.
The commercial-scale SAF facility will be located at Aster’s refining hub on Pulau Bukom in Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Aster acquired this site from Shell to develop a dedicated sustainable fuels footprint. Construction of the facility is scheduled to commence in 2026.
Once operational in 2028, Project Beacon is projected to produce 50 barrels per day, equating to approximately 2,000 tons of SAF annually. The plant will utilize Aether’s proprietary Aurora technology to produce Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK). According to Aether Fuels, this pathway is expected to deliver a minimum 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.
De-risking commercial scale-up
The firm offtake agreement follows a critical technical milestone for Aether Fuels. On 29 September 2026, the company announced the successful operation of a fully integrated demonstration line at RTI International in North America.
The 2.5 barrel-per-day system combined Aether’s Aurora Tri-Converter and Upgrader units with an existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor. The demonstration successfully converted renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas and captured industrial carbon dioxide into synthetic aviation fuel meeting ASTM D7566 specifications. This successful run provided the engineering data required to de-risk the design and scale-up of the Project Beacon facility ahead of its construction phase.
Singapore’s SAF ecosystem and airline targets
The aviation industry is increasingly reliant on SAF to meet decarbonization targets, but feedstock availability remains a primary bottleneck. Aether’s FT-SPK pathway addresses this by utilizing industrial waste gases and biomethane, bypassing the constrained agricultural and lipid-based feedstocks, such as used cooking oil, that dominate current SAF production.
The agreement aligns with broader regional regulatory shifts. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has mandated a SAF levy for flights departing Singapore starting in 2026 to fund centralized SAF procurement. Singapore Airlines, which operates a fleet with an average age of under eight years, has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
AirPro News analysis
We view this firm offtake agreement as a clear indicator of the tightening future market for non-lipid SAF. The aviation sector’s reliance on Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) SAF is running into hard limits regarding used cooking oil and tallow availability. By committing to Aether’s FT-SPK product before the Project Beacon facility has even broken ground, Singapore Airlines is moving aggressively to lock in alternative feedstock pathways.
This early commitment is necessary for airlines aiming to meet 2030 mandates. The lead times for financing, constructing, and scaling novel waste-to-fuel facilities span several years, meaning airlines cannot wait for commercial production to begin before securing their supply lines.
Sustainable Aviation
SABA Members Back Infinium eSAF Facility With Long-Term Deals
Google, McKinsey, and others sign binding SAFc agreements to support Infinium Energy’s 100,000 MT/year Texas eSAF project.
Corporate members of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) have signed binding, multi-year agreements to purchase sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) from Infinium Energy’s planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) facility in Texas. The commitments, announced on September 22, 2026, are designed to provide the financial demand signals necessary for Infinium to reach a final investment decision on the project.
In a press release issued by SABA, the organization confirmed that American Airlines (AA) will serve as the physical offtaker for the fuel, managing logistics and delivery. The corporate buyers purchasing the associated certificates include AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, and McKinsey & Company. The agreement marks the first time SABA’s procurement model has been utilized to directly drive new production capacity for scalable sustainable aviation fuel.
Project Atlas production and environmental targets
Infinium Energy was selected through a SABA procurement process earlier in 2026 to provide ultra-low carbon eSAF. The fuel is produced using waste carbon dioxide and renewable energy, distinguishing it from traditional biofuel pathways that rely on agricultural or waste feedstocks.
The planned Texas facility, designated Project Atlas, is expected to have an annual sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity of 100,000 metric tons. According to the alliance, the contracted volumes will support an expected greenhouse gas abatement of 212,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e). SABA equates this emissions reduction to approximately 3,500 commercial flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
“We’re proud to partner with SABA members including AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, McKinsey, and others, as well as American Airlines to bring Infinium Energy’s next world scale eSAF facility to life. Their commitment reflects a shared conviction that decarbonizing aviation requires real investment in next-generation supply,” said Robert Schuetzle, CEO of Infinium Energy.
Aggregating demand through book-and-claim
The transaction utilizes a book-and-claim model. Corporate buyers purchase the SAFc to claim the environmental benefits against their business travel emissions, while the physical fuel is delivered to partner airlines. This mechanism allows corporations to fund SAF production even when the physical fuel cannot be delivered directly to the airports their employees use.
American Airlines will manage the physical integration of the eSAF into the commercial aviation fuel supply chain. Jill Blickstein, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Airlines, stated that the corporate commitments broaden participation in the SAF market and demonstrate how customers can collaborate with airlines and fuel producers to advance decarbonization.
SABA, a joint initiative of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA), and RMI, has aggregated $500 million in SAFc demand from 35 companies to date. Aviation currently accounts for approximately 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Novel technologies are critical to meeting future demand for sustainable aviation fuel, but they will not be operational in time without investments made today. This procurement demonstrates how aggregated, long-term demand can help take promising eSAF projects from idea to reality,” said Jon Creyts, CEO of RMI.
AirPro News analysis
We view this agreement as a critical structural step for the eSAF market. Power-to-Liquid (PtL) fuels like those planned for Project Atlas face a steep commercialization barrier. They are highly capital-intensive to build and currently produce fuel at a significant cost premium compared to both conventional Jet A and HEFA-based SAF derived from waste fats and oils.
Airlines operate on thin margins and generally cannot absorb the full green premium of eSAF alone. By unbundling the environmental attributes from the physical fuel, the SABA model allows highly capitalized corporate entities like Google and McKinsey & Company to absorb that premium. More importantly, signing binding, multi-year offtake agreements provides the revenue certainty that infrastructure lenders require before financing first-of-a-kind industrial facilities. If Project Atlas reaches a positive final investment decision based on these contracts, it will validate the book-and-claim model as a viable financing mechanism for next-generation aerospace infrastructure.
Sources: Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance via PR Newswire
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