Todays Latest Updates: 23 September 2026

Biofuels: USA. Velocys released its new AlphaCore™ 800 reactor, its highest-capacity microchannel Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor to date. It is designed to produce up to 800 barrels per day, or 30,000 tons per year (30 kt/a) of FT fluids from a single reactor. AlphaCore 800 doubles the capacity of AlphaCore 400 and extends Velocys’ throughput-based AlphaCore reactor family from approximately 50 to 800 barrels per day per reactor (from 2 to 30 kt/a per reactor). AlphaCore 800 is designed particularly for larger sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and e-fuels projects, including SAF plants targeting approximately 100,000 tonnes per year and above. Link 23/09/2026.

E-fuels: Belgium. D-CRBN is developing electrified plasma technology to recycle CO₂ and hydrocarbons into carbon monoxide and syngas for sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials. By enabling circular carbon molecules at industrial scale. The plant will be designed for continuous operation using CO₂ and biomethane of biological origin. The demonstration plant is designed to produce approximately 200 tonnes of renewable syngas per year. Link 23/04/2026.

E-fuels: China. The Xuzhou demonstration project has produced its first 99.9%-pure methanol by combining captured biogenic CO₂ with hydrogen made using electricity generated from biogas. Welle Group announced that its biomethanol demonstration plant in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province had entered operation and produced its first methanol, with third-party testing confirming 99.9% purity after distillation. The process uses agricultural waste — livestock manure and crop straw — as feedstock for anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. CO₂ is separated from the biogas stream. Electricity generated from the biogas powers a water electrolyser to produce what Welle describes as green hydrogen. The hydrogen and captured CO₂ are then fed into a catalytic synthesis unit to produce methanol. Link 23/09/2026.

Hydrogen: New Zealand. Plug Power Inc, announced the shipment of a 1 MW GenEco™ PEM electrolyzer to HWR Hydrogen, a division of H.W. Richardson Group Limited, expanding Plug’s GenEco footprint across New Zealand and Australia. The unit will be installed at HWR Hydrogen’s refueling station in Invercargill, New Zealand, where it will produce hydrogen to support HWR’s fleet of dual-fuel hydrogen-diesel heavy trucks. Link 23/09/2026.

Plastic recycling: Denmark. Kirkbi Climate, the climate investment arm of the family behind Danish toy maker Lego, plans to significantly increase its investment in technologies supporting a more circular plastics economy. The company currently manages a climate portfolio worth more than DKK 10 billion (around EUR 1.3 billion) and intends to invest up to a further DKK 10 billion in climate solutions over the next five years. The company sees tighter European packaging regulation as a major driver of investment. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is pushing companies towards greater circularity in packaging, with specific design-for-recycling requirements due to take effect from 2030. The regulation also sets a recycling target of at least 55% for plastic packaging waste by the end of 2030. Link 23/09/2026.