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# Axens to Supply FT Upgrading Technology for Expander Energy's Canadian SAF Projects
- URL: https://review.iffw.sg/axens-to-supply-ft-upgrading-technology-for-expander-energys-canadian-saf-projects/
- Published: 2026-09-04T14:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T14:15:06.000Z
- Author: Editor
- Tags: News, SAF, America, Aviation

Axens has been selected by Expander Energy, a Canada-based SAF and renewable diesel producer, to provide its advanced FT Liquid Upgrading technology. Axens' technology will support production of drop-in, second-generation biofuels from cellulosic feedstock through Expander's patented Enhanced Biomass to Liquids (EBTL) and Biomass Electrolysis to Liquids (BETL) processes, to be deployed first at two Canadian projects: the Wheatland Bio-Synfuels Facility near Calgary, Alberta, and the Mackenzie Biomass Derived E-Fuels Facility in northern British Columbia.

### **A Fourth Distinct SAF Pathway Now Involving Axens Specifically** 

Axens has appeared twice in this series across two genuinely different SAF technologies: its Jetanol alcohol-to-jet process for France's ERA project, and now FT Liquid Upgrading, the finishing stage of a Fischer-Tropsch gasification pathway similar in principle to Sumitomo Heavy Industries' gasification pilot covered in this series. Axens' role here is specifically the upgrading step, refining the raw FT liquid output from Expander's gasification and synthesis process into fuel meeting commercial specification, rather than the gasification and synthesis technology itself, which remains Expander's own patented EBTL and BETL processes.

### **Why Cellulosic Feedstock, and Why Canada** 

Expander's process draws on forestry and agricultural residues, a feedstock base distinct from the used cooking oil constraining HEFA-based SAF, the ethanol feedstocks behind alcohol-to-jet projects, or the renewable electricity and captured CO2 e-SAF depends on. Canada's forestry sector gives Expander a large, domestically available cellulosic feedstock supply to build both projects around, positioning the company's SAF ambitions around a resource base tied specifically to Canadian forestry and agricultural residue availability.

### **Where the Two Named Projects Actually Stand** 

Both the Wheatland and Mackenzie facilities are described as progressing through regulatory and financing milestones, with final investment decision targeted for December 2026, roughly three months from this announcement. Neither project has an announced production capacity, total investment cost, or construction timeline beyond that FID target, consistent with most projects at this pre-FID stage covered elsewhere in this series.

### **A Broader Relationship, Not Just Two Projects** 

Beyond the initial project awards, Expander Energy has also selected Axens as its strategic upgrading technology provider across a broader portfolio of SAF and Arctic renewable diesel developments, extending the relationship beyond Wheatland and Mackenzie specifically to Expander's wider Canadian project pipeline. Expander CEO Gord Crawford's own statement frames this as a continuation of an existing working relationship between the two companies, describing Axens' role specifically around ensuring the final-stage processing of Expander's Bio-SynDiesel and Bio-SynJet fuels meets the technical specifications required by industrial transport and aviation customers.

*Source:* [*Axens*](https://www.axens.net/resources-events/news/axens-awarded-expander-energy-ft-liquids-upgrading-technology-produce-drop?ref=review.iffw.sg)*, 31 August 2026.*