Why the Global South should produce SAF, not just export feedstocks

Sustainability In The Air

Sustainability In The Air
Why the Global South should produce SAF, not just export feedstocks
Jun 11, 2026 Episode 165
SimpliFlying

In this episode, we speak with Elvis Ebikade, Director of Strategic Market Development at Bioleum Corporation, about why the Global South should be producing SAF rather than just exporting raw feedstocks, how renewable fuels are becoming an energy security play, the technical challenge of getting aromatics into SAF, and what actually separates a bankable SAF project from a good-looking spreadsheet.

Ebikade discusses:

  • The case for Africa and Southeast Asia as SAF producers, not just feedstock suppliers
  • Why exporting feedstocks and reimporting SAF adds a carbon intensity penalty that undermines the product's core value
  • Feedstock diversity in Africa: HEFA, alcohol-to-jet, woody biomass, and e-fuels
  • The energy security reframe: why renewable fuels change who sits at the table
  • Export vs book-and-claim: why there's no single model for Global South SAF
  • What Bioleum is building: lignin-to-aromatics, cellulosic ethanol, and the Hexas Biomass acquisition
  • Why most SAF today still needs to be blended with fossil jet fuel before it can be used to power aircraft
  • What makes a SAF project bankable: feedstock, offtake, EPC, and a credible path to cost parity
  • The gap between financial models and operational reality

If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Meg Gentle, Executive Director at HIF Global, about how synthetic fuels and waste-based pathways could reshape the economics of sustainable aviation fuel. Check it out here. 

Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.

Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It’s about time.

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