Carbon-Negative Fuels Pioneer Pathway Energy Debuts with Ultra Negative Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Plans for New SAF Facility on US Gulf Coast

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Dec 12, 2024, 07:00 ET

Pathway's first facility charts a path to carbon-negative flights and will abate up to 6,000 long-haul flights annually

HOUSTON, Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pathway Energy ("Pathway"), a developer of ultra carbon-negative fuels projects, debuted today as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nexus Holdings, announcing the first in a series of commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facilities. The project, based in Port Arthur, Texas, will be one of the largest decarbonization projects globally, positioning Pathway Energy as a leader in the decarbonization of global aviation. In tandem, Pathway Energy announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with biomass feedstock provider, Drax Global.

Led by early sustainable fuel pioneers, Pathway's team is distinctly positioned to bring commercial SAF to market, with decades of combined experience in waste and biomass conversion processes and technologies, including: biomass power generation, biomass gasification, Fischer-Tropsch, and complex biorefinery and industrial processes. Pathway has partnered with multinational heavyweights including Sumitomo SHI FW, who will supply the project with proven power production and gasification process technology packages.

How Ultra Carbon-Negative SAF Compares to Today's SAF and Why it Matters

Today the market for sustainable aviation fuel relies heavily on used cooking oil (UCO HEFA), the bulk of which is imported. While its introduction catalyzed decarbonization efforts in aviation and achieved a 75% reduction of carbon compared to traditional jet fuel, today's UCO HEFA SAF is unable to materially decarbonize aviation due to its positive carbon intensity score and constrained supply. With the introduction of its ultra carbon-negative fuel, Pathway reveals an industry first: a synthetic drop-in jet fuel that achieves a 550% reduction of carbon compared to traditional jet fuel, which will help carriers abate up to 6,000 long-haul flights annually.

With Pathway's ultra-negative SAF, carriers require less SAF to achieve the same emissions reduction as HEFA, which in turn, translates to a lower cost of operations as less fuel is required to achieve greater emissions reduction. Aviation carriers can expect to achieve up to 8x emissions reductions compared to HEFA SAF. The carbon-negative aspect of Pathway's fuel opens up the market globally to offtakers beyond the U.S. market.

"Currently the market for SAF only has options for lower carbon fuels, and while these fuels are effective in abatement of emissions, they require substantial production volumes. We saw the opportunity to provide carriers a pathway to completely decarbonize their flights with our net zero blended fuel," said Joshua Pearson, Pathway CTO. "This is a new type of SAF production that is 7-9x more carbon negative than the SAF on the market today and represents the most sustainable, cost efficient and derisked path to decarbonize global aviation, long term."

Proven Technology with World-Class Partners and Sustainable Feedstocks

Through biomass power, gasification and syngas conversion technologies, Pathway converts sustainably sourced wood pellets, a homogenous and globally traded commodity, into SAF. Pathway's decision to use wood pellet feedstock from world-class partners like Drax Global and proven technologies from Sumitomo SHI FW derisks feed system failures and optimizes gasification performance. Combining these commercial technologies with carbon capture and storage technology, the Port Arthur facility is expected to remove more than 1.9 million tons of CO2 annually while producing 30 million gallons of carbon-negative SAF.

A New Hub of Biomass Energy Carbon Capture and Storage in Texas

In Port Arthur, Pathway will leverage sustainable biomass feedstock and access to geological storage to sequester carbon and to produce its ultra carbon-negative SAF. Selected for the presence of a highly skilled local workforce and existing infrastructure from the oil & gas industry, the site location offers existing industrial scale import and export logistics including established truck, rail, barge, and pipeline access. Pathway is focused on developing a platform of commercial-scale facilities in areas with a high potential for geological storage to utilize BECCS (Biomass Energy Carbon Capture and Storage) and gasification technology to capture and store carbon.

"Today we are happy to debut with the best technology and industrial partners in the industry on a market opportunity with global significance," said Steve Roberts, CEO of Pathway Energy. "With the ultra negative carbon intensity achieved through our process, Pathway Energy is poised to lead a global market for ultra negative fuels, driving large scale emission reductions across the aviation sector."

About Pathway Energy
Pathway Energy is a developer of ultra carbon-negative fuels projects that utilizes sustainable carbon efficient conversion technologies, leveraging carbon sequestration, to produce ultra carbon negative sustainable fuels for hard to abate industries. Our development platform combines scalable carbon removal process pathways including BECCS, and Biomass with Carbon Removal and Storage to produce ultra carbon-negative fuels. To learn more, visit https://pathwayenergy.com/

About Nexus Holdings
Nexus Holdings is a Greenville, South Carolina-based investment and advisory firm that supports the development and execution of low-carbon infrastructure projects. For over a decade, Nexus has supported the development and execution of more than $35 billion in low-carbon infrastructure projects and collaborated with investment firms to manage more than $1 trillion in assets. The company leverages the offerings of its three wholly owned subsidiaries to provide support and services throughout the lifecycle of low-carbon projects, including Nexus PMG, an infrastructure advisory firm; Pathway Energy, a sustainable aviation fuel producer; and Nexus W2V, a developer of waste-to-value infrastructure projects.

Media Contact
Mission Control for Pathway Energy and Nexus Holdings
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SOURCE Nexus PMG