From Biomass to Sustainable Aviation Fuel - Imagine That

This episode of the Insights Podcast is another in our bioeconomy series, sponsored by the Greenspring Bioinnovation Hub and Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, and features a conversation with Andrew Parsons, the Project Director at Nova Sustainable Fuels, a company owned by UK-based Octopus Energy. His company has been quietly working in Nova Scotia since 2021 on a project to build a production facility in Guysborough County near Goldsboro that would convert biomass, such as wood chips and sawdust, into sustainable aviation fuel (saf). It is a big idea that would require 750,000 tons of biomass to produce 165,000 tons of aviation fuel and would be a major boost to the forestry industry, which has struggled for a market for biomass since the closure of Northern Pulp, which consumed 1.3 million tons of biomass annually until its closure.

The company has purchased 770 acres of land with tidal access and has already spent tens of millions of dollars developing the case for the project, and has received approval for its initial environmental review. The project will have its own renewable wind and solar energy that will be able to generate 1.1.GWs of power. The project is estimated to cost between $4 and $6 billion and will contribute $1 billion to provincial GDP annually when at full production. The European market is driving demand for sustainable aviation fuels, and it has legislation in place to ensure that 70% of aviation fuel will be from sustainable sources by 2050. This would be the first such plant in North America and one of the first in the world. The final decision is expected in 2028, with the plant completed by 2031.