Robert Schuetzle, CEO of e-fuel producer Infinium, told a H2 View webinar that long-term green hydrogen-based SAF deals are accelerating in both compulsory and voluntary markets.

Infinium has been operating a pilot plant in Texas since 2023 and is currently building a project, named Roadrunner, designed to produce 23,000 tonnes of e-SAF per year, using 100MW of electrolysis.

The project, which is due online in 2027, will supply fuels to International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns British Airways and more, under a 10-year deal.

That agreement has been driven by policies like the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation and the UK’s net-zero aviation strategy, as airlines begin lining up SAF supplies ahead of mandates.

“Most of the SAF produced from Roadrunner will be shipped over to the UK for [use] by IAG,” the Infinium boss said.

However, airlines operating in regions without mandates are beginning to line up for the fuel.

Alongside IAG, American Airlines has signed a 10-year offtake deal to receive volumes of e-SAF from Infinium’s 23,000-tonne project. The US currently has no legislative incentive for airlines to switch.

Unlike the mandate-driven deals, however, Schuetzle said the move is underpinned by Scope 3 emissions savings.

“American [Airlines] partnered with Citi [Bank] on the back end of that deal to buy Scope 3 emissions for that SAF utilisation,” he told the webinar. “So, really a three-way deal to allow the economics to work through American.”

While voluntary uptake is encouraging, Schuetzle recognised it as a “harder sell” than e-fuel destined for regulated markets like the EU and UK, which he said will remain the firm’s “primary” targets.

But regulation outside of those core European markets is building.

Brazil has confirmed a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from domestic flights by 2037, while Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Turkey all have mandates in the policy pipeline.

Moving forward, however, costs will be key. “We can’t rely on policy forever,” Schuetzle asserted.

However, the firm has used policy backing to drive funding for its projects, which it said has allowed it to focus on production cost reduction.

Its current focus is on bringing down total installed costs. Schuetzle said this ethos was behind its selection of Electric Hydrogen’s factory-made, 100MW electrolyser plant for Roadrunner.

“Framework will be the ultimate driver, but getting volume into the market…with Electric Hydrogen gets that cost curve down. We have to get down to, or close to parity with fossil [fuels],” Schuetzle added.