MAIRE’s Nextchem has secured a major technology and engineering award for an Australian project that could produce up to 125,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) a year from sugarcane residues.

 

Through its subsidiary MyRechemical, Nextchem has been awarded licensing, a Process Design Package (PDP) and engineering services by SKY Renewables Burdekin Pty Ltd for the syngas section of Project Lion, a planned sustainable fuels facility in Queensland’s Burdekin region.

 

The project will use locally available sugarcane tops and trash—agricultural residues that are often burned in the field—as feedstock. Nextchem will deploy its NX Circular™ Gasification technology to convert the biomass into purified chemical-grade syngas.

 

That syngas will then be converted into SAF and renewable diesel using third-party technologies. At full scale, Project Lion could produce up to 125,000 tonnes of SAF annually.

 

The project is designed to turn an underused agricultural waste stream into a valuable feedstock for low-carbon fuels, while promoting more sustainable use of biomass resources in the region..

 

Fabio Fritelli, Managing Director of Nextchem, said: “This award confirms the strategic relevance of Nextchem’s proprietary technologies in enabling the development of sustainable fuels from renewable and residual feedstocks. We are proud to contribute to a project of this kind in Australia, a geography of growing importance in the evolution of the industry and an important area for the diversification of our portfolio. 

 

"By leveraging our gasification technology, we can support the conversion of locally available sugarcane residues into low-carbon fuels, combining circular carbon solutions with the decarbonization needs of aviation.”

 

The award strengthens Nextchem’s position in the emerging market for renewable and residual-feedstock-based fuels and highlights the potential of agricultural waste to support aviation decarbonization.