Syzygy Taps Sugarcane Waste for Green Jet Fuel in Global SAF Push

HOUSTON, TX – March 03, 2026 – Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics has unveiled a significant partnership in Brazil, aiming to convert waste from the country's massive sugarcane industry into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The company announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Geo bio gas&carbon, a leading Brazilian biogas developer, to build a series of commercial-scale SAF plants.

This collaboration represents a critical step in Syzygy's global strategy to produce up to one million tons of SAF annually by 2035. By leveraging a novel light-powered reactor technology, the company plans to transform overlooked agricultural and landfill waste into the low-carbon fuel urgently needed to help the aviation industry meet its ambitious decarbonization goals.

Brazil's Untapped Energy Treasure

The agreement targets one of the world's largest agricultural powerhouses. Brazil's sugar and ethanol industries produce vast quantities of organic residues like vinasse and filter cake. Historically, this waste has posed a disposal challenge, but for Syzygy and Geo, it represents a massive, untapped energy resource. Geo bio gas&carbon specializes in capturing the biogas—primarily methane and carbon dioxide—released as this organic matter decomposes.

The partnership will combine Geo's expertise in operating biogas assets with Syzygy’s proprietary conversion technology. Instead of a single mega-project, the MOU outlines a 'portfolio-style' development approach. The companies will jointly identify promising sites within Geo's extensive network of existing and planned facilities across Brazil to deploy multiple SAF production plants.

Initial efforts will target sites capable of producing up to 100,000 metric tons of SAF per year, with a long-term vision to build an aggregate capacity exceeding 525,000 metric tons annually from the Brazilian operations alone. This strategy is designed to create a scalable and resilient supply chain, positioning both companies as leaders in Brazil's emerging SAF market, which is expected to grow in response to anticipated government blending mandates.

An Electrified Revolution in Fuel Production

At the heart of Syzygy’s strategy is its groundbreaking GHG e-Reforming™ technology. Unlike traditional fuel production methods that burn fossil fuels to generate intense heat, Syzygy's process is all-electric. It uses proprietary photocatalysts in its modular Rigel™ reactors to drive chemical reactions with light instead of combustion.

This electrified process converts raw biogas directly into syngas, a crucial chemical building block, which is then upgraded into SAF. A key advantage is the ability to use biogas with minimal pre-treatment, bypassing the need for expensive purification and pipeline infrastructure. This makes it economically viable to tap into 'stranded' biogas sources at smaller, distributed scales—such as individual farms, landfills, or agro-industrial sites—that were previously uneconomical to exploit.

By replacing combustion with renewable electricity, the technology dramatically lowers the carbon intensity of the final fuel. The modular design, which has undergone over 3,000 hours of successful testing, allows for rapid and scalable deployment, reducing the engineering complexity and footprint of new facilities. Syzygy's approach not only creates a high-value product from waste but also offers a potentially more profitable alternative to conventional biogas-to-electricity projects.

Building a Global SAF Supply Chain

The Brazilian venture is a cornerstone of a much larger global ambition. Syzygy is aggressively pursuing a series of international agreements under its NovaSAF™ expansion program to secure diverse feedstock sources and build a worldwide production network. This strategy aims to create a repeatable commercial engine to meet the aviation industry's urgent need for SAF.

"This partnership with Geo, alongside our growing project pipeline across the world, demonstrates that we are laying the groundwork toward becoming a major supplier in the SAF industry," said Trevor Best, CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, in a statement. "The aviation industry's path to net-zero depends on our ability to transform diverse, often overlooked feedstocks into high-value fuel at an industrial scale."

Beyond Brazil, Syzygy has established a significant project pipeline:

• United States: An MOU with NorthStar Renewable Fuels, led by industry veterans, aims to produce up to 25 million gallons (approx. 75,000 tons) of SAF per year, with a licensing structure designed for rapid deployment across North America.
• Dominican Republic & Europe: A flagship project with Islonias (Biothek) in the Dominican Republic targets 30,000 tons per year, with ambitions for a 300,000-ton aggregate capacity through expansions into Spain, Italy, France, and Latin America.
• Mexico: An agreement is in place to explore a portfolio of landfill gas-to-SAF projects with a potential aggregate capacity of up to 100,000 tons per year.

Further cementing its plans, the company is actively developing NovaSAF 1 in Uruguay. Slated to be the world's first electrified biogas-to-SAF plant, the facility will convert dairy waste into certified SAF beginning in 2027, serving as a critical proof-of-concept for the company's distributed production model.

The Urgent Race to Fuel Net-Zero Skies

Syzygy's expansion comes at a critical moment for global aviation. With a long-term goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the industry is facing a monumental challenge. SAF is widely considered the most viable near-term solution for decarbonizing air travel, as it can be used in existing aircraft and infrastructure.

However, a colossal gap exists between supply and demand. Global SAF production is projected to fall more than 23 million metric tons short of forecasted demand by 2035. This shortfall is driving an intense search for new production pathways and feedstocks beyond the currently dominant method, which relies on used cooking oils and animal fats—a resource with significant supply limitations.

Strict government mandates are adding to the pressure. The European Union's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, for example, requires fuel suppliers to blend increasing amounts of SAF, starting with 2% in 2025 and rising to 70% by 2050. Similar policies are being implemented or considered in the UK, US, Singapore, and Japan.

By focusing on biogas from agricultural, landfill, and other organic waste, Syzygy and its partners are developing a crucial alternative pathway that diversifies the feedstock pool. This approach not only helps address the SAF supply crunch but also contributes to a circular economy by capturing value and mitigating emissions from waste streams, marking a vital contribution to the future of sustainable flight.