Navigating federal, state, and regional incentive and regulatory requirements is a critical—and constant—challenge in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project development. In this must-attend panel, industry experts will break down the often complex and evolving policy landscape that shapes SAF deployment. From securing approval for alternative feedstocks, technologies and fuel specifications to understanding how these regulatory frameworks influence pricing and market dynamics, this session offers invaluable insights. Attendees will also gain a global perspective with a snapshot of SAF market pricing trends, the drivers behind pricing fragmentation, and the growing role of benchmarks in stabilizing the market. Rounding out the discussion, panelists will explore how to quantify both the financial return and climate impact of SAF through the lens of the social cost of carbon.

• Kristine Klavers, Managing Director, EcoEngineers
  Navigating Off-Path: Gaining Approval for Non-Standard SAF Feedstocks, Technologies, and Specs in the U.S.
• Sofía Cabrera, Price Reporter - Sustainable Aviation Fuel, S&P Global Commodity Insights
  Decoding SAF Pricing: The Impact of Regulatory Frameworks on Market Dynamics

Although ASTM has approved 11 different production pathways for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), HEFA remains the dominant technology in use today. While well-established, HEFA faces long-term feedstock limitations, highlighting the need for continued innovation to support industry growth. This pathway-focused panel will explore the strategies, feedstocks and emerging technologies needed to overcome these challenges and drive the SAF market forward. From Fischer-Tropsch and ethanol-to-jet to power-to-liquid solutions, attendees will gain expert insights into SAF production pathways and how to accelerate their commercialization.

• Pareen Shah, Chief Marketing Officer, BioVeritas, LLC
  Filling the Gap Between HEFA and PTL
• Denis Pchelintsev, Vice President of Engineering, Universal Fuel Technologies
  Flexiform Renewable Naphtha and EtOH to Produce SAF at 1/2 the Current Cost
• Peter Flippo, Director Business Development, Avantium Chemicals BV
  How to Accelerate Optimization of Catalytic Conversions for SAF
• Andrew Held, Director, Madison PDC, Bioleum Corporation
  Cellulosic HEFA SAF as a Novel and Cost-Effective Solution

Building on the panel “Understanding SAF Policy & Regulatory Framework,” this session will delve into the renewable credit-generating potential of various SAF production pathways amidst shifting tax credits and funding mechanisms across North America and Europe. Attendees will gain valuable insights, including historical data on feedstock and credit prices, to better understand regional opportunities and challenges facing competing SAF technologies. The discussion will also examine the evolving relationship between SAF pricing, emissions accounting and policy incentives. A proprietary 10-year forecast will be presented, highlighting projected SAF production capacity, investment trends, and potential headwinds to future growth. The session will conclude with a deep dive into the role of long-term offtake agreements and strong airline partnerships in scaling SAF, culminating in a compelling case for SAF that extends beyond its climate impact.

• Omar Hamid, Group Manager - Low Carbon Fuels, Worley Consulting
  An Economic and Regulatory Overview of Opportunities to Meet Global SAF Demand
• Mariajose Parra, US Biofuels and Feedstocks Senior Price Editor, S&P Global Commodity Insights
  The Future of SAF Pricing: Integrating Carbon Intensity into Market Value
• Juliette Juillerat, Associate Director, Communities, Energy, & Infrastructure (CEI), Guidehouse Inc.
  10-Year Supply & Demand Outlook for SAF
• Ashwin Jadhav, Vice President of Business Development, Twelve
  Twelve, Unlocking the Value Proposition of eFuels with Long-term Offtake Agreements and Airline Partnerships
• John Hebert, Senior Policy Advisor for Transportation, Third Way
  The Non-Climate Argument for SAF

For gasifiers and other high-pressure reactors to operate reliably, they require a continuous and well-controlled feedstock supply. Advanced biofuel production often relies on challenging feedstocks such as agricultural residues, forest biomass, and municipal solid waste—materials that can lead to significant flow and operational issues. This panel will open with a discussion on the range of technologies currently used in biofuel production, examining their advantages, limitations and the common feedstock challenges they face. It will also introduce a patent-pending solution designed to address feedstock flow reliability. Attendees will then hear updates on the development of two renewable diesel and SAF production pathways that utilize wood waste, agricultural residues, and other forms of biomass, including real-world examples of projects deploying these technologies. The session will conclude with findings from a pilot-scale study demonstrating the viability of the hydrothermal liquefaction pathway for SAF production and its potential for commercial-scale deployment.

• Jayant Khambekar, Senior Consultant, Jenike & Johanson, Inc.
  Jen-Zero®: Reliable Feed System for High Pressure Gasifiers
• Gord Crawford, President & CEO, Expander Energy Inc.
  Project Update - SAF Production from Biomass Gasification, Electrolysis and Fischer Tropsch
• Yuanhui Zhang, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  From Pilot to Commercial Scale: SAF Production via Hydrothermal Liquefaction Pathway
• Dana Hatch, Manager of Technology Development, Bioleum Corporation
  Integration and Scale Up Considerations for Cellulosic HEFA SAF Production
• Oscar Moran, Business Development Director - Americas, GIDARA Energy
  Unlocking the Value of Waste with HTW Gasification

With a complex and uncertain landscape of federal and state policy mechanisms and tax credits, current and prospective SAF producers face unprecedented challenges in launching and scaling profitable projects. This panel will open with expert analysis of recent legislative developments and their implications for feedstock availability and project viability. Attendees will then explore state-of-the art funding and offtake structures for SAF projects, followed by insights into how book-and-claim systems can provide financial certainty—encouraging increased investment and production. The session will conclude with a discussion on strategies for de-risking SAF projects through collaborative partnerships across the value chain.

• Aaron Czajkowski, Renewable Fuels Analyst, Stratas Advisors - A Hart Energy Company
  North American SAF Supply and Demand Outlook: Impact of Legislative Developments and Feedstock Implications
• Mark Riedy, Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
  State of the Art Funding and Offtake Structures For SAF Projects
• Chris Wilcox, SVP Business Development, Gevo, Inc.
  Unlocking SAF Market: How Book-and-Claim Offtake Agreements Enable Homegrown Corn to Fuel Sustainable Aviation
• John Oyen, Director of Business Development, ABB, Inc.
  Derisking SAF Production Projects via Collaborative Partnerships

As demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD) continues to rise, so does the need for consistent, affordable supplies of sustainable feedstocks. Securing these feedstocks has become a pivotal factor in both project development and reliable fuel production, posing the significant challenge of identifying and sourcing alternatives to traditional feedstocks such as canola and soy—and being able to process them into high-quality fuel. While attention is shifting toward options like used cooking oil, distiller’s corn oil, waste animal fats, and cover crops, these alternative feedstocks often contain complex impurities that require advanced purification solutions. This panel will examine state-of-the-art pretreatment technologies designed to remove contaminants, enhance process efficiency, and extend catalyst life. The discussion will also highlight how these innovations are driving operational flexibility and performance improvements—ultimately shaping the future of SAF and RD feedstock processing.

• Mark Mauss, President, Lutros, LLC
  New MonteTM is a Novel SAF Feedstock Pretreatment System That Uses a Counter-Current, Reactive-Extraction Process for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Renewable Diesel (RD) Production
• Fahmi Kresmagus, Senior Business Development Manager, Clariant Corporation
  Optimizing Pre-treatment: Tackling Low CI Feedstocks Impurities in Renewable Fuel Production with High-Performance Adsorbents
• Andersom Cattoni, Sr. Business Development Manager, Novonesis
  Improved Enzymatic Technology for Pretreatment of Renewable Diesel/SAF Feedstocks

As the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry continues to scale, the establishment of cost-effective, low-carbon supply chains is paramount—requiring the resolution of key technical, logistical, and economic barriers. This panel will begin with the presentation of a strategic study outlining roadmaps for leveraging nonfood vegetable oils—such as camelina, jatropha, carinata, and various waste oils—as scalable and sustainable feedstock options for SAF production via HEFA pathways. The session will analyze critical factors including agronomic potential, supply chain logistics, pretreatment and upgrading technologies, and the integration of these systems across North America. Following this, attendees will gain insight into several recently launched projects aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of feedstocks and finished fuels used in aviation supply chains. Particular focus will be given to the development of alternative methane-based fuels that are not only compatible with existing natural gas infrastructure and energy systems but, in many cases, offer deeply carbon-negative lifecycle profiles. The session will conclude with a discussion on the application of digital engineering methodologies to inform project development, enabling more effective feedstock selection and preprocessing strategy optimization.

• Brad Gallant, Director of Business Development, DT Midstream
  Leveraging Low Carbon Alternative Methane Fuels to Decarbonize SAF Supply Chains
• Yidong Xia, Senior Research Scientist, Idaho National Laboratory
  Scaling-up Biomass Preprocessing Through Digital Engineering
• David Tearse, Co-Founder and CEO, Karman Industries
  How Mechanical Vapor Recompression Can Decrease Your CI and Increase Revenue

Ethanol is set to play a pivotal role in scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production, but reducing carbon intensity (CI) scores remains essential for market access. This panel will explore innovations in producing SAF-compatible ethanol, including advances in feedstock selection, operations, and process technology. Panelists will discuss how ethanol quality and sustainability impact SAF potential and compliance with CI requirements—particularly in the Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) pathway. The session will also cover strategies to retrofit Gen 1 biofuel facilities for SAF integration, technologies for converting CO2 emissions into green methanol, and how zero-emission steam can significantly lower CI scores, unlocking premium SAF markets and maximizing tax incentives.

• Neal Jakel, President, Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC
  Producing the Right Ethanol for SAF
• Shrikant Rathi, Executive Director, PRAJ Industries Limited
  Integrating Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production into Gen 1 Biofuel Facilities
• Jeff Bonar, CEO, CapCO2 Solutions
  Green Methanol - A Critical Next Step for SAF
• Jack Roback, Director of Business Development of Biofuels, Antora Energy
  Scaling Low-CI SAF with Cost-Effective, Zero-Emission Steam

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework is essential to successful project development, from securing a social license to operate to meeting regulatory requirements. This panel will begin with an assessment of feedstock availability for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to meet the projected global demand of 550 million metric tons by 2050, comparing feedstocks such as used cooking oil, agricultural residues, algae, and arable land resources. The discussion will highlight the potential of winter-hardy oilseeds like camelina and pennycress as scalable, climate-resilient crops that enhance farm profitability. The session will conclude with an overview of advanced technologies and low-carbon farming practices aimed at optimizing SAF feedstock production.

• Matthew Fischbacher, Director - Energy & Environment, Air Safety Organization, Air Line Pilots Association International
  SAF Feedstocks and Land: A Strategic View for 2050
• Trevor Russell, Water Program Director, Friends of the Mississippi River
  SAF Strategy for Broader Biodiversity Outcomes
• Colin Cureton, Director of Commercialization, Adoption, and Scaling, University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative
  Scaling Up Winter Camelina as a Sustainable SAF Feedstock
• Dr. Holly Mayton, Lead - Research Partnerships & Science Policy, John Deere North America
  Optimizing Feedstock Production for SAF: Using Advanced Technologies for Low-Carbon Farming Practices

The rapid scale-up and commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technologies face numerous technical and economic challenges. This panel will begin with a discussion highlighting the vital role of strategic partnerships among industry, government, and research institutions in accelerating the deployment of emerging SAF technologies. It will explore how R&D contracts, when combined with targeted financing mechanisms and supportive policy frameworks, are essential to overcoming these barriers. The conversation will then shift to key considerations in process scale-up for commercial deployment, with a focus on cellulosic biomass handling and ethanol fermentation, as well as potential solutions for reducing the energy intensity of drying and oil extraction in microalgae-based biodiesel production. The panel will conclude with an overview of analytical tools and techniques used by the natural gas sector to ensure the quality of renewable energy products entering the pipeline network—particularly biomethane—and the lessons that can be applied to the SAF industry.

• Jate Cox, Sr. Research Engineer, Southwest Research Institute
  Scaling Up Emerging SAF Technologies
• Ryan Warner, Sr. Process Engineer, Merrick & Company
  Pathways to Commercial SAF: Engineering Realities of Cellulosic Ethanol Scale-Up
• Afshin Raei, Senior Process Engineer, POWER Engineers, Inc. (member of WSP)
  Process Simulation of Wet Microalgae to Biodiesel via Hydrolysis and Esterification
• Diane L. Saber, President, REEthink, Inc.
  Sustainable Fuels in the Natural Gas Industry: Lessons Learned
• Jeff Bonar, CEO, CapCO2 Solutions
  Green Methanol - A Critical Step for SAF at Gen 1 Biofuel Facilities

Decentralized sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production will take center stage in this panel, with a focus on innovations that leverage community partnerships and locally available resources. The session will open with a case study from Indonesia, illustrating how small-scale SAF facilities can successfully utilize regional feedstocks while offering a scalable model for agribusiness-driven regions such as the U.S. Midwest. The discussion will then transition into a comparative analysis of centralized versus distributed SAF production, emphasizing the techno-economic advantages and challenges of each approach. Special attention will be given to woody biomass—a promising yet underutilized feedstock—with insights into its potential to support both climate objectives and forest management efforts. The panel will also explore strategies to improve the commercial viability of woody biomass, featuring a deep dive into Minnesota’s untapped supply and its potential role in advancing regional SAF development.

• Terry Baggett, Head of Business Development, Circularity Fuels
  Decentralized by Design: A Low-CapEx SAF Platform for Local Fuel Production
• Darrell Smith, Executive Director, U.S. Industrial Pellet Association
  Woody Biomass in Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Unlocking Forest Resources for Decarbonized Flight
• Eric Schenck, Executive Director, Minnesota Forest Resources Council
  Wheels Up with Wood: Advantages of a Forest-Based SAF Feedstock in Minnesota