openly and acknowledging risks honestly, to rebuild confidence in a sector still shadowed by past disappointments. However, even with transparency, success depends on execution – and that requires leadership fit for scale. Moving from concept to hard-tech deployment demands management that can oversee large capital budgets, navigate multi-stakeholder environments, and lead growing teams. This transition from entrepreneurial ingenuity to institutional delivery capability is one of the sector’s most critical, and often underestimated, challenges. The prize is significant: advanced gasification can anchor regional circular economies, provide reliable pathways for hard-to-abate sectors, and establish a new asset class of investable low- carbon infrastructure. Conclusion: beyond survival, towards impact Emerging technologies do not die in the valley of death because they lack promise; they die because they fail to align technical credibility with commercial reality. Advanced gasification of waste has seen this story play out many times, but the sector has a genuine opportunity Financial considerations The hybrid configuration provides the following positive and additional incomes to refinery operations: • 20% cost reduction of feedstock (crude) due to reduced intake. • Jet fuels income from the eSAF market (with a premium price forecast). •CO 2 emissions cost is reduced to the range of 50% vs the original case. These improvements allow for a reasonable and feasible return on investment for the Comparison of traditional vs proposed hybrid configuration The production yields and CO 2 emissions from both the base case and the hybrid case are compared in Figure 5. This shows that the refinery emissions are reduced by as much as 50% in the hybrid case, while yields of products are the same for the main products (jet fuel and SAF, gasoline, diesel) and very similar for the remaining secondary products. Figure 6 shows that the carbon footprint is notably reduced in the hybrid fuel complex.
VIEW REFERENCES Juan Carlos Latasa López jclatasa@idom.com VIEW REFERENCES IN ONLINE ISSUE Amna Bezanty cornerstone of the circular economy – producing sustainable molecules, low-carbon gases, fuels, and chemicals at scale, and contributing directly to net-zero ambitions and beyond – particularly as one of the very few pathways that can deliver negative-carbon molecules. shows that investments to produce synthetic fuels can be economically viable additions to existing refineries. At the very least, this should encourage more detailed studies for any refinery considering such an investment. to change the narrative. By maintaining alignment between technology and commercial readiness metrics, learning from other sectors, and applying the seven critical enablers, advanced gasification can move beyond survival and into leadership. This is also a geopolitical issue: maintaining a baseline of domestic fuels and chemical production is critical. If this cannot be sustained with fossil oil, it must increasingly be met through recycled carbon pathways, positioning advanced gasification at the heart of industrial resilience as well as decarbonisation. Success will not only deliver bankable projects but also position advanced gasification as a of feedstocks, processes, and products. The modelling work summarised here new unit (SFU), facilitating the incorporation of synthetic fuels into existing refineries, yielding positive results and presenting an attractive opportunity for both lenders and the environment. Fuel and chemical production centres will continue to be an essential part of modern society during the transition and in any future low-carbon emissions environment. These centres must be considered vital contributors now and in the future. They must get the appropriate encouragement and support to facilitate the reduction in the carbon footprint
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