EQTEC has set up a new joint venture with CompactGTL, a specialist in the production and use of synthetic fuels from gases, sending its hares up 82% on the day.
Earlier in the day, sahrs in the waste-to-gas specialist had leapt on news its Italian subsidiary received approval to draw down €2.9 million of loan funds to carry out its growth plan.
The venture with CompactGTL will focus on an integrated, waste-to-liquid fuel solution based on EQTEC syngas technology and CompactGTL's gas-to-liquid conversion technology.
Ownership will be on a 50/50 basis with the target the transport sector and products such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
First step will be to establish a consortium of investors to fund a commercial-scale reference plant that proves the viability of the solution, said the statement.
EQTEC and CompactGTL started to work together in 2022 at the UK group's syngas pilot plant at LERMAB in France and have already completed feasibility work on the reference plant.
The Reference Plant is expected to process 150 tonnes per day of refuse-derived fuel from municipal waste to produce 160 barrels per day of synthetic crude at 90% annual operational efficiency.
If processed, the syncrude would be further refined to produce 11,700 litres per day of SAF, 8,650 litres per day of diesel and 5,000 litres per day of naphtha.
Total capex for building the Reference Plant is estimated at £60 million, with roughly a third of that for the purchase of EQTEC technology and another third for CompactGTL kit.
David Palumbo, EQTEC’s chief executive, added: "We are still at the early stages of our work on drop-in fuels, but the potential is great.
“CompactGTL's gas-to-liquid capabilities are already proven for natural gas and now we will work towards proving them for waste-to-liquid fuels, including SAF and maritime fuels.
“Given the huge interest in SAF and other drop-in fuels in the market and the funding we can see going into this market, waste-to-liquids is a market in which we want to participate as soon as possible."
Anar Asgarov, CEO of CompactGTL, commented: "Gas-to-liquid technology is difficult, but we have made it work. The bigger problem to solve is for high-quality syngas, which is why we have turned to EQTEC, who have made high-quality syngas work.”
Shares in Eqtec jumped 82% to 4.1p.