HOUSTON and OXFORD, England, Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Velocys today announced that it has implemented manufacturing and delivery efficiencies that reduce total investment cost for its microFTL™ technology by more than 30 percent. The efficiencies were confirmed during design and engineering work conducted for two advanced Fischer–Tropsch (FT) Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) projects: Altalto in the UK and NovaSAF™ 1 in Uruguay.
As SAF mandates expand globally, developers and investors are increasingly focused on one central challenge: cost. While policy incentives and offtake frameworks are crucial, long-term SAF scale-up depends on materially lowering the capital required to build and operate commercial facilities.
In response to these market signals, Velocys re-examined its FT technology offering across both projects, working closely with strategic manufacturing partners to streamline reactor fabrication, standardisation, and delivery. The resulting design and execution optimisations have driven step-change reductions in total installed cost without compromising performance, operability, or technology readiness.
In the UK, the Altalto waste-to-SAF project is nearing the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase, supported by prior funding from the UK Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund. The project’s capacity has been reassessed, resulting in significant overall CAPEX reduction. Shifting to an execution strategy that optimises stick‑built and modular construction, while also updating the technology stack, reduced project risks and cut previous cost estimates for Velocys’ proprietary technology by 30 percent. These enhancements materially improve the project’s economic positioning as it moves toward a final investment decision.
In parallel, NovaSAF 1, a biogas-to-SAF project being developed by Syzygy Plasmonics, will also benefit from the updated FT configuration. Through in-depth collaboration, Velocys identified an opportunity to better align its offering with the client’s prioritisation of speed, efficiency, and cost control. The design was modularised and streamlined to focus on process-critical requirements, removing unnecessary features and replacing customised elements with proven, standardised components. This resulted in a 50 percent reduction in CAPEX compared to the original design. The project recently reached a major commercial milestone with a long-term offtake agreement signed with Trafigura, and is moving closer to final investment decision.
These projects demonstrate how FT-based SAF pathways can meet the dual challenge facing aviation decarbonisation: achieving meaningful lifecycle carbon reductions while delivering economics that are viable at commercial scale.
“Across the SAF market, the message from developers and investors has been consistent,” said Mathew Viergutz, CEO of Velocys. “Capital efficiency matters. We are listening. By standardising how our FT technology is manufactured and delivered, and by working closely with experienced industrial partners, we have unlocked substantial cost reductions that materially improve project viability. The progress at Altalto and NovaSAF 1 shows that FT SAF is not only technically proven, but increasingly investable.”
Velocys continues to apply these manufacturing and delivery efficiencies across its broader project pipeline, reinforcing its role as a long-term technology partner focused on enabling commercially scalable SAF production.
About Velocys
Velocys is a leading technology innovator in the production of sustainable aviation fuel and other low-carbon fuels through its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch process. Its microFTL™ microchannel reactor technology enables efficient, modular production that can be deployed globally. Learn more at www.velocys.com.
microFTL™ is a trademark of Velocys.
NovaSAF™ is a trademark of Syzygy Plasmonics
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