HVO, SAF and bionaphtha brokerage

They are three cuts from the same process. Hydrotreating fats and oils produces a range of paraffinic hydrocarbons, which are then separated: the diesel-range cut is HVO under EN 15940, the kerosene-range cut is SAF under ASTM D7566, and the light cut is bio-naphtha. A plant can shift the yield between them within limits, so which one you are offered often reflects the operator's economics rather than a fixed output.

It moves, and it depends on the mandate rather than on the molecule. SAF usually carries the strongest premium because ReFuelEU obliges it and the alternatives are scarce. Bio-naphtha into a petrochemical cracker can beat gasoline blending because the buyer is purchasing a renewable claim rather than energy. HVO is the volume product. We would rather test all three routes for a parcel than assume.

HVO does not: it is a drop-in paraffinic diesel and HVO100 runs neat in approved engines. SAF is blended up to 50 % and then certified as ordinary Jet A-1, so the aircraft never sees anything unusual. Bio-naphtha is not a finished fuel at all; it is a feedstock for cracking or a gasoline blend component.

Yes, and most modern hydrotreaters do. That is why a producer's offer sheet often lists all three, and why a shortage in one cut can appear when the operator swings yield towards another. If you depend on a single cut, it is worth understanding what the plant does with the rest of the barrel.

HVO is made by hydrotreating fats and oils and is a hydrocarbon; FAME is made by transesterification and is an ester. HVO is a drop-in fuel with excellent cold-flow properties and long storage stability, specified under EN 15940, and HVO100 can be used neat in approved applications. FAME is specified under EN 14214, is normally blended, and has cold-flow, oxidation-stability and storage-life limitations that HVO does not.

HEFA, hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, is the most commercially mature route to sustainable aviation fuel, using the same fats-and-oils feedstocks as HVO. It is certified under ASTM D7566, with a blending limit applying to the pathway. Once blended and released to specification, the fuel is handled as conventional jet fuel.

It obliges aviation fuel suppliers at EU airports to supply a minimum share of SAF: 2 % from 2025, rising to 6 % from 2030 and increasing further thereafter, with a separate sub-obligation for synthetic aviation fuels. It is the main reason SAF tends to be contracted forward rather than bought on the spot market.

It is the lighter co-product of hydrotreating, and it goes either to steam crackers as renewable feedstock for the petrochemical chain, or into gasoline blending. The cracker route generally pays better, because it lets the polymer producer downstream make a certified renewable claim, which means the certification chain, not the hydrocarbon, is what is really being bought.

Where the applicable scheme and the buyer's own claim permit it, yes. Book-and-claim arrangements are scheme-specific and the rules differ between ISCC CORSIA, RSB and national systems, so the first question is always what the buyer actually needs to be able to claim, and to whom.

Less than the headline production figures suggest. A large share of European volume is contracted forward by parties covering a legal obligation, so genuine spot availability is thinner and more seasonal than it appears. Sellers with certified volume in a defined delivery window are in a stronger position than the raw supply numbers imply.