A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Syzygy Plasmonics, another potential player in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market, has just signed a six-year offtake agreement with commodities broker Trafigura for the purchase of next-generation SAF from Syzygy’s first commercial facility, which will be located in Durazno, Uruguay.
NovaSAF-1, as the plant will be named, will be the world’s first electrified biogas-to-SAF facility to produce SAF compliant with&nbsp;standards for renewable fuels of non-biological origin, with deliveries anticipated to start in 2028. It will use Honeywell’s Fischer-Tropsch (FT) hydrocracking technologies and a specialized photoreactor that contains plasmonic nanoparticles. When illuminated by lights powered by renewable electricity, these nanoparticles absorb light energy and transfer it directly to biogas molecules, splitting them apart.
As a feedstock, it will leverage biogas from the nearby Estancias Del Lago powdered milk plant to produce SAF that Syzygy claims will provide 90% lower life-cycle emissions than conventional jet fuel (in its neat, unblended form).
Syzygy declined to answer a question from AIN as to the planned output of the facility, but the binding agreement with Trafigura will cover the entire production volume of the NovaSAF-1 plant during that six-year span.
“This agreement marks a critical step in our journey toward commercial-scale impact and disrupting the SAF market,” explained Syzygy CEO Trevor Best. “With a signed offtake agreement from a global leader like Trafigura, and after having successfully completed LEED engineering in December, we’re now ready to secure financing for the construction of NovaSAF-1 and move our technology from potential into production.”

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

New SAF Producer Moves Forward after Offtake Agreement

Syzygy Plasmonics’ first production facility will be in Uruguay

Following a major offtake agreement, Syzygy Plasmonics’ first SAF production plant is slated to come online in 2028 in Uruguay.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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World Economic Forum attracts numerous private aircraft to Davos, Switzerland

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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The company cited financial factors for the changes

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News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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