Johnson Matthey has said that its technologies will be used on two new projects; one in the US the other in the UK.
Selected as a key technology partner by SunGas Renewables, Johnson Matthey is providing its methanol synthesis technology and catalysts to the US-based company which is building a $2 billion biomethanol plant. Johnson Matthey notes that this award represents its first biomethanol licence in the US.
Johnson Matthey’s methanol synthesis technology and catalysts converts syngas from biomass gasification into biomethanol, which the company says effectively manages the impurities from the upstream gasification process. “Once operational, this large-scale production facility is destined to help meet growing demand for low-carbon biofuels in the years ahead,” said Alberto Giovanzana, Managing Director Licensing at Johnson Matthey.
Located in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, US, the project represents one of the largest of its kind in the country, with a slated annual production capacity of more than 500 000 tonnes of biomethanol per year, which it said the equivalent of powering up to nine of some of the largest oceangoing container vessels which can use 222 tons of methanol per day. The biomethanol will be primarily used for marine fuel but can also be used as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and in the wider chemicals industry.
The project is well underway with SunGas Renewables saying that the front-end engineering and design is being carried out by Kiewit and Jacobs Engineering. Construction is expected to start during the second half of 2026. The project will lead to the creation of 1000 jobs during its construction and around 100 permanent jobs on completion, SunGas Renewable added.
Johnson Matthey said that the SunGas development marks the seventh project contributing to its strategic milestone to 20 additional large-scale projects in its Catalyst Technologies' portfolio by the end of the 2025/26 financial year.
Meanwhile, Johnson Matthey technology will be deployed on a SAF project being developed by Willis Sustainable Fuels (WSF). Located in the Tees Valley, Northeast England, UK, the project will take biomethane feedstock which will be converted to syngas using Johnson Matthey technology. The syngas will then be converted to synthetic crude oil using the Fischer Tropsch CANS process technology which was developed jointly by Johnson Matthey and BP. The synthetic crude oil will then processed and blended into SAF.
The WSF plant is set to have a capacity of 14 000 tonnes per year of SAF. Startup is slated for 2028.
The WSF project is one of five in the Teesside region that is being supported by the UK Government’s Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund, which allows for the commercial deployment of fuel production technologies which are capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the UK aviation sector.
The parent company of WSF, Willis Lease Finance Corporation, based in the US, first announced its intention to develop its SAF project during 2023. Commenting on this latest development Amy Ruddock, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Aviation & Corporate Development at Willis Lease Finance Corporation said: “This pioneering project will demonstrate the potential of our Carbonshift pathway, which can leverage various sustainable feedstocks and be tailored to produce power-to-liquids, helping to shape the future of aviation fuels.”
Further reading
• Startup wants to turn plant waste into biofuel for planes and ships
• Johnson Matthey and Honeywell UOP work on sustainable fuels
• Investors back Johnson Matthey’s sustainability drive
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