Johnson Matthey Technologies Selected for E-SAF Facility in South Africa

Plant Engineering Johnson Matthey Technologies Selected for E-SAF Facility in South Africa

2026-06-18 Source: Press release Johnson Matthey 2 min Reading Time

Related Vendor

Johnson Matthey’s technologies have been chosen by Phelan Green Hydrogen for its electro-sustainable aviation fuel facility in Western Cape, South Africa. On completion, the project is expected to be one of the world’s first commercial-scale E-SAF production facilities.

Phelan Green Hydrogen has announced that it has licensed technologies from Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies for its planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel facility in the Western Cape, South Africa.(Source: Pixabay) — Phelan Green Hydrogen has announced that it has licensed technologies from Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies for its planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel facility in the Western Cape, South Africa.
(Source: Pixabay)

London/UK – Phelan Green Hydrogen has recently announced that it has licensed technologies from Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies (JM CT) for its planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel (E-SAF) facility in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Construction of the facility in Saldanha Bay is expected to begin by the end of 2026 and is part of the wider Phelan Green Hydrogen Project which expects investment of R47 billion (more than 2 billion pounds).

The license win represents the first phase of the project, which when completed is expected to be one of the world’s first commercial-scale E-SAF production facilities, able to produce around 35,000 tonnes of E-SAF each year, intended for sale into the EU/UK markets. That will be the equivalent of producing up to 6 % of the EU and UK’s mandated E-SAF volumes for 2030.

Once all phases are complete the facility is expected to supply around 140,000 tonnes of E-SAF in total each year.

Stay up to Date

Do you want the latest news, specialist articles and information on new products? Then you can register for our free newsletter:

Choose your Newsletter

Johnson Matthey’s Hycogen technology uses a catalyzed process to convert CO2 and electrolytic (green) hydrogen into carbon monoxide (CO). This CO is then combined with additional hydrogen to form syngas. Hycogen technology integrates with FT Cans technology, jointly developed and co-owned by JM and BP, which converts syngas into synthetic crude oil, supporting overall process efficiency. This synthetic crude oil will then be upgraded to produce synthetic paraffinic kerosene.

Alberto Giovanzana, CEO of JM CT, said: “Phelan Green’s plans for an E-SAF facility in the Western Cape are a landmark project. It will be one of the world’s first commercial-scale E-SAF facilities and a clear signal that SAF can scale today. It also marks Johnson Matthey’s first deployment of Hycogen and FT Cans in Africa.”

Blair Phelan, Managing Director Phelan Green Group, said: "Securing these license and engineering agreements with Johnson Matthey completes the technology backbone of our project. Their team's support has been instrumental in getting us here. We are now ready to turn renewable energy, CO₂ and water into sustainable aviation fuel, and to prove that E-SAF can be produced at commercial scale, here in South Africa.”

(ID:50876217)

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.