Lift Off for NEG8 Carbon in Sustainable Aviation Fuel
19 November 2025
Irish Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, NEG8 Carbon, has signed a contract for Phase 1 of a major project in the UK to develop large-scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel (eSAF) production using a low-carbon energy source. This paves the way for economic production of eSAF at scale, which is critical for decarbonisation of the aviation industry.
The CO₂ provided via DAC will be combined with green hydrogen and nuclear-generated electricity to create eSAF in a specialised process. The eSAF produced will save over 90% emissions compared to traditional jet fuel and will comply with international SAF mandates.
The project, known as Eq.flight, will be led by Equilibrion who are pioneering the drive to decarbonise aviation using low-carbon nuclear energy through small and advanced modular reactors.
Equilibrion was awarded £1 million for Phase 1 of the Eq.flight project as part of the UK Department of Transport’s Advanced Fuel Fund (AFF) 2025 investment of £63m in 17 clean aviation initiatives, bringing to £198m the total value of state investment in this area since 2022.
NEG8 Carbon’s DAC technology is particularly suitable for this project as it uses low-carbon heat and electricity from nuclear, which greatly reduces the cost and increases efficiency of the DAC process.
NEG8 Carbon Founder & Managing Director, Ray Naughton, said:
“This positions NEG8 Carbon as one of the leaders in the field to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel using Direct Air Capture of CO₂. The potential in this market is driven by the EU and UK government mandates to airlines to use more SAF in their fuel mix progressing to 70% in the EU by 2050. This creates a global SAF market with a value of $400 billion by 2050. NEG8 Carbon is now positioned to be a major player in this market.”
Philip Rogers and Caroline Longman, Co-founders and Directors at Equilibrion said:
“We are committed to developing solutions that enable the aviation sector to offer lower emission flights to customers around the world by leveraging low-carbon nuclear electricity and heat. Power-to-liquids powered by advanced nuclear reactors offers the potential for the scale of production needed to make a major impact on climate change.”
What is Direct Air Capture (DAC)?
Direct Air Capture is a technology that extracts carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air. NEG8 Carbon’s DAC technology works by using fans to draw in large quantities of air and passing it through NEG8’s revolutionary low-cost CO₂ extraction system. The extracted CO₂ is either permanently stored underground or used practically in carbon utilisation processes.
What is eSAF?
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is produced from a broad range of materials and feedstocks, whereas eSAF is made from CO₂ captured from the air and green hydrogen. DAC is the only technology which can provide a large-scale source of green CO₂ at million tonne scale at the eSAF production location.
About Equilibrion
Equilibrion is a UK-based project developer and consultancy focused on using the potential of nuclear power to mitigate climate change. Eq.flight represents its flagship PtL SAF initiative, designed to deliver reliable, mandate-compliant fuel at scale. The company supports UK ambitions to decarbonise aviation using low-carbon nuclear energy, bridging energy and climate strategy through small and advanced modular reactors.
About the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF)
The Advanced Fuels Fund is a UK government initiative that supports first-of-a-kind (FOAK) commercial and demonstration-scale projects. All selected projects have demonstrated their potential to produce SAF capable of reducing emissions by more than 65% on a lifecycle basis when used in place of conventional fossil jet fuel.