Haffner Energy teams up with LanzaJet, LanzaTech to unlock alcohol-to-jet SAF production from biomass residues

Haffner Energy, LanzaTech and LanzaJet announced Jan. 28 that they are working together to explore joint sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects utilizing biomass, covering the entire production value chain.

The three companies are exploring SAF production opportunities, including the development of commercial plants, joint technology licenses and offtake opportunities as they become available, and funding support or investment in specific SAF projects.

“The three companies together demonstrate the type of partnership and technology alignment this industry will need to be successful in meeting the global demands of aviation,” said LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis. “CirculAir™, the joint product between LanzaJet and LanzaTech, brings together our proprietary technologies to create low-carbon SAF from a variety of feedstocks, including discreet biomass sources. The technology developed by Haffner Energy further opens new opportunities for additional SAF production because it is biomass-agnostic.”

France-based Haffner Energy said it relies on its 31-year experience to design, manufacture, supply, license and operate proprietary disruptive clean-fuels solutions using all types of biomass residues wet or dry, including agricultural and municipal waste.

LanzaJet, a U.S.-based company with operations around the world, has a leading, exclusive and patented alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology.

LanzaJet is backed by global airport operator group Aéroports de Paris, British Airways, Airbus, Southwest Airlines and Microsoft, among others.

In 2024, LanzaJet was named to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list and opened the world’s first commercial-scale ATJ plant in the U.S.

LanzaTech offers carbon-management solutions with operations worldwide that transform waste carbon into valuable raw materials, such as ethanol.

Ethanol is the essential input required to produce SAF through the ATJ pathway.

LanzaTech’s waste-based ethanol provides a resource for the scalability of the ATJ pathway and CirculAir™, the initiative unveiled last year by LanzaTech and LanzaJet, which formally brings together both companies’ technologies into one integrated solution to take advantage of the immense opportunity in using waste-based feedstocks for SAF production.

LanzaTech’s experience using syngas as a feedstock to produce ethanol coupled with the flexibility of Haffner Energy’s proprietary technology to use a wide array of biomass residues to produce syngas creates a foundation upon which to connect LanzaJet’s ATJ technology, according to Haffner Energy.

The combination of the three companies’ technology unlocks a pipeline of opportunities to develop and build multiple profitable projects together, Haffner Energy stated.

“We are excited to team up with LanzaTech and LanzaJet to develop our first SAF projects together,” said Philippe Haffner, co-founder and CEO of Haffner Energy. “We’re confident that CirculAir™ is an exciting pathway and we look forward to growing our global pipeline together thanks to our combined technologies.”

Jennifer Holmgren, chair and CEO of LanzaTech and board chair of LanzaJet, added, “The powerful combination of CirculAir and Haffner Energy’s technologies widens the range of waste-based feedstocks able to be used to meet growing SAF demand. Together, our technologies and teaming can drive innovation and economic growth through advanced technology. This partnership is about more than just fuel production—it’s about creating well-paid jobs in rural areas, generating additional value from agricultural and forestry waste, and building new refineries that can bolster local economies.”