Cemvita, Radix to advance circular SAF feedstock facility in Brazil

Synthetic biology company Cemvita and industrial solutions company Radix announced they have made significant progress in front-end engineering for its bio-oil project in Brazil converting crude glycerin into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

This project takes Cemvita’s proprietary biomanufacturing platform and converts crude glycerin into a versatile bio-oil that can be upgraded into high-value, drop-in feedstocks, including co-processing in existing refineries and/or Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA)-based SAF.

Radix will develop the engineering, industrial design basis, and scalability framework for the project. The company worked with Cemvita to define operating boundaries, pressure-test assumptions and align the biology with real-world industrial constraints to reduce execution risk.   

“This project demonstrates how innovation and industrial engineering can work together to enable energy transition,” said Luiz Mello, head of energy at Radix. “Cemvita has developed a unique and differentiated technology.”

If you want to read more about how Cemvita’s process work. Read our interview with the company’s vice president of strategy Fernando Borba here.

“What the teams have accomplished in the past six months reflects a very high level of engineering collaboration and discipline,” said Luciano Zamberlan, VP of Operations and Engineering at Cemvita. “Together with Radix, we successfully tropicalized a project initially designed for the U.S., adapting equipment selection, utilities, layout, and integration strategies to Brazil.”

This approach intends to be replicable and scalable across biodiesel facilities, enabling crude glycerin to shift from a low-value byproduct into a strategic input for ultra-low Carbon Intensity (CI) fuels.

The project continues to advance through development phases with the objective of reaching the final investment decision within 2026.