Atoba to offtake SAF from Haffner Energy in France

Market: Biofuels, Oil products
21/02/25

French renewable fuel producer Haffner Energy announced a new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) long-term offtake agreement with SAF aggregator Atoba Energy.

The two companies will also collaborate on SAF production, although Haffner is yet to disclose further details of the partnership.

Atoba will offtake "a good proportion" of SAF from Haffner's 60,000 t/yr production facility at Paris-Vatry airport, Haffner global chief marketing officer Marcella Franchi told Argus.

"[The partnership with Atoba] will facilitate the financing of our SAF projects, starting with Paris-Vatry", chief executive Philippe Haffner said.

The Paris-Vatry project is a collaboration between the French firm and production pathway developer LanzaJet. The plant, which is due to begin operations in 2028, will use an alcohol-to-jet production pathway.

To meet EU SAF regulations, the feedstock will be advanced, drawn from Annex 9 list A of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). The ATJ pathway will convert syngas, produced from the feedstock's initial treatment, into ethanol, which will then be turned into SAF using LanzaJet's processes.

Last year, Haffner revealed it is creating a SAF spin-off entity called SAF Zero.

Haffner will license its SAF production technology to the entity and "aims to remain a shareholder" in SAF Zero. The latter will license Haffner's technology for an upfront fee and royalty agreement.

In addition, Haffner has undisclosed SAF projects for biogenic SAF and e-SAF in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

EU-wide SAF mandates kicked in at 2pc this year, rising to 6pc by 2030.

By Evelina Lungu

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