More than six months after the announcement of its sustainable aviation fuel joint venture, SAF, Topsøe and Sasol have found the CEO for the venture. German Jan Toschka, who has so far been director of aviation fuel at the British oil company Shell, will head the joint venture from March, which will be formally established the same month.

”Jan has a unique skill set, having already worked in the aviation industry, as well as a distinctly entrepreneurial mindset, which is exactly what we need to get the joint venture off the ground,” Topsøe CEO Roeland Baan said in a statement.

”There is no time to waste to boost the production of SAF to decarbonize the aviation industry, and with Jan on board, I am confident that the joint venture will make a remarkable contribution to the world’s global ambition to reach net zero.”

Jan Toschka has, with one detour, been with Shell since 2007. A career that has spanned water, land and most recently air since November 2021, when he took on the role as Head of Shell Aviation. However, the German is up in the air about the change.

”This industry is close to my heart and I am very excited to lead the new company,” says the future CEO in the announcement.

Although the SAF production joint venture is new, Topsøe and Sasol have worked closely together for a number of years. Back in 2019, for example, the Danish and South African chemical group entered into a collaboration on liquefied natural gas technology, GTL. At that time, it was already announced that the product, G2L, could be supplied as synthetic kerosene for aircraft in addition to diesel.