EQTEC to jointly develop synthetic fuels solution with CompactGTL

Waste-to-value solutions provider EQTEC announced it plans to setup a new joint venture company with gas-to-liquids technology provider CompactGTL Limited to develop integrated, waste-to-liquid fuel solution from waste, including transport fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel SAF.

“We are still at the early stages of our work on drop-in fuels, but the potential is great. CompactGTL’s gas-to-liquid capabilities are already proven for natural gas and now we will work towards proving them for waste-to-liquid fuels, including SAF and maritime fuels. Given the huge interest in SAF and other drop-in fuels in the market and the funding we can see going into this market, waste-to-liquids is a market in which we want to participate as soon as possible,” said David Palumbo, CEO, EQTEC.

The two firms are targeting to become an innovator and licensor of technology for liquid fuels produced from waste. As a first step, the JV will work on formation of a consortium of investors to fund a commercial-scale, first-of-a-kind reference plant that proves the viability of the solution.

“Gas-to-liquid technology is difficult, but we have made it work. The bigger problem to solve for is high quality syngas, which is why we have turned to EQTEC, who have made high-quality syngas work,” commented Anar Asgarov, CEO, CompactGTL.

The JV announcement between the two firms comes after work undertaken under the collaboration framework agreement signed on July 7th 2022 to collaborate for the design, development, construction and operation of waste-to-fuel projects and other synthetic fuel and energy infrastructure projects.

Under the 2022 agreement, the two companies completed feasibility work on a reference plant. The plant is expected to process 150 tonnes per day of refuse-derived fuel from municipal waste to produce 160 barrels per day of synthetic crude at 90% annual operational efficiency. The synthetic crude could be further refined to produce 11,700 litres per day of SAF, 8,650 litres per day of diesel and 5,000 litres per day of naphtha.

The companies said that total capex for building the plant is around £60m, with roughly a third of that for purchase of EQTEC technology and another third for purchase of CompactGTL technology.