Synhelion selects Saipem as pre-FEED partner for facility at RWE’s Knapsacker Hügel site

Swiss sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer Synhelion announced Saipem as its pre-FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) partner for its eSAF facility at RWE’s site in Hürth-Knapsack in Germany.

Synhelion’s technology turns biogas into syngas through a thermochemical reactor, which they can heat using renewable electricity or through solar power using the company’s proprietary heliostat technology.

The partnership will look to advance the project’s engineering and refine the process’ technical configuration for the planned 30,000t/year capacity project. Pre-FEED studies are an important foundation on which projects consolidate their technology and project economics before the subsequent FEED studies leading to eventual Final Investment Decision.

Synhelion are also partnered with RWE who will manage the industrial infrastructure at the company’s Hürth-Knapsack site. Synhelion’s project will be integrated with RWE’s existing pipelines and utilities and will have support across site development and permitting.

“Scaling our technology is key to making renewable fuels commercially competitive,” says Philipp Furler, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Synhelion. “Our joint pre-FEED work is an essential step in that direction, establishing a robust engineering basis for one of our commercial-scale plants. Saipem and RWE are strong partners for this scale-up phase.”

Synhelion’s production will prioritise SAF whilst also processing synthetic diesel for road and marine transport. This project is part of a wider scale up of production capacity, as the company plans to further expand its production capacity at its DAWN facility in Julich.