XFuel gets EU funding to scale up its fuel-from-waste tech

April 8, 2025, by Naida Hakirevic Prevljak

XFuel, a Spanish producer of high-grade sustainable drop-in fuels and carbon removal for the transport sector, has secured €7.7 million in blended finance from the European Innovation Council (EIC), helping it bring its fuel-from-waste technology to transport markets.

XFuel has developed proprietary conversion and refining technologies that can produce cost-competitive low-carbon drop-in fuels for the transport sector.

As explained, sustainable fuels are produced from a variety of scalable waste materials, with a focus on industrial hydrocarbons and biomass residues. Their drop-in nature indicates they meet fossil fuel specifications and performance, making them fully compatible with existing combustion engines and fossil fuel infrastructure and allowing for direct replacement today.

According to XFuel, these fuels require no capital expenditure and significantly reduce operational costs by owners when compared to other decarbonization options in the industry.

XFuel has developed two technologies that produce high-grade transport fuel:

Chemical liquid refining (CLR), which can refine and crack hydrocarbon liquids and residues into ultra-clean drop-in transport fuels for marine, road and aviation sectors, and
Mechanical carbon conversion (MECC), which co-processes lignocellulosic waste biomass and waste oils to produce low-carbon transport fuels and biochar.

The EIC funding will enable XFuel to progress its CLR technology to market, an innovation designed to convert hydrocarbon waste into ultra-clean, low-carbon fuel. The immediate focus is on delivering sludge-derived marine gasoil (MGO) grade fuel, with anticipated GHG emissions savings of up to 85% under the EU RED II framework for recycled carbon fuels.

“XFuel has developed unique and innovative technology to deliver our long-term vision to provide sustainable fuels for heavy transport sectors. We see many organisations seeking good value and the sustainable disposal of their waste, while transport fuel off-takers are urgently seeking affordable, low-carbon fuel, not least as regulations tighten and the cost of carbon starts to bite,” Nicholas Ball, CEO and founder of XFuel, commented.

“With the EIC award, we can now strive to bridge this gap and unlock a viable solution to decarbonise these hard-to-abate sectors starting today. This is a major milestone in our mission to scale our low-carbon fuel solutions across Europe and beyond.”

XFuel describes itself as “the first” company to produce low-carbon drop-in transport fuel at a comparable price point to fossil fuels. Already, XFuel has signed MoUs and LoIs with off-takers in the maritime sector, including container lines and towage solutions providers.