Nova Pangaea's REFNOVA waste-to-SAF process completes 72-hour endurance trials at Teesside demonstration plant

What happened

Nova Pangaea's REFNOVA technology has completed continuous production runs lasting up to 72 hours at the company's demonstration plant on Teesside. The process converts waste biomass into feedstock intended for sustainable aviation fuel production.

The endurance trials demonstrated that the process can sustain uninterrupted operation, described as a key step toward commercial-scale deployment of waste-derived SAF feedstock production.

Industry impact & what to watch

Demonstration-scale endurance testing is the stage at which waste-to-fuel technologies either prove they can run like an industrial process or stay confined to short batch trials. A 72-hour continuous run signals the chemistry and equipment can hold up beyond brief demonstrations, which is the threshold investors and fuel buyers typically look for before committing to larger facilities.

Feedstock technologies at this stage generally still need to show consistent output quality, cost per unit and reliable supply of waste biomass inputs before a design can move from a demonstration plant to a commercial-scale facility. Each of those steps typically requires its own testing and validation period beyond endurance runs alone.

The next marker to watch is whether Nova Pangaea or its partners announce plans for a larger facility, or disclose further data on output volumes and cost from the Teesside plant.