The Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP) and Topsoe México are exploring joint projects in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), following a working meeting held on October 26, 2026, as reported by Energía a Debate. The technical alliance between the two institutions has reached its third year and has already produced SAF evaluation batches at the Institute's pilot plants, according to the Mexican Institute of Petroleum.

The meeting was held by José Garcés Zepeda, head of the IMP's Engineering and Services Division, and Florencia Vitelleschi, Country Manager of Topsoe México, a Danish company specializing in technologies for the transformation of industrial and energy processes. SAF is a fuel that aims to reduce emissions from air transport. For the Latino community in North America, the topic is relevant because Mexico, the United States and Canada share air routes and decarbonization commitments under the T-MEC framework, and a regional SAF supply depends on local technical capacity.

The meeting addressed four fronts:

  • Characterization of feedstocks for SAF. - Pilot testing and process evaluation. - Transformation of sulfur gases into sulfuric acid. - Digitalization of engineering.

The IMP noted that Topsoe's experience in renewable fuels, combined with its laboratories and scientific infrastructure, opens the door to technology complementarity schemes. On October 15, at the panel of the ASA-SAF MX Summit organized by Airports and Auxiliary Services (ASA), specialists from Topsoe, Axens and NextChem recommended leveraging the pipelines, storage and hydrogen available at refineries, promoting crops for feedstock supply, and having a clear regulatory framework for the use of SAF in Mexican aviation.

The two institutions proposed moving toward a joint work agenda that defines priority areas and technical collaboration mechanisms. A new meeting or agreement that turns these projects into concrete action would be the next signal to watch.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.