Quadrise plc (LON:QED), the manufacturer of lower cost, lower emission, replacement fuels and biofuels for shipping and heavy industry, has announced an amendment to the Joint Development Agreement with Licella Holdings Ltd announced by the company on 26 March 2025.
Licella is an Australian-based global technology pioneer delivering scalable, low-cost and high-value fossil replacement solutions. Its proprietary Cat-HTR™ hydrothermal liquefaction (“HTL”) technology efficiently converts abundant biomass residues and biowastes, including wood and agricultural waste, into high-quality, sustainable bio-oil that can be blended or refined into low-carbon liquid fuels.
HTL is globally recognised as one of the most promising pathways for producing sustainable fuels for hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping, with leading organisations (including the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping) highlighting its potential to deliver low-carbon bio-oils at the scale the maritime sector requires.
Under the JDA entered into in March 2025, Quadrise and Licella have been collaborating and seeking, inter alia, to progress the use of Licella’s bio-oil produced by HTL technology as a potential cost-effective feedstock for the bioMSAR™ and bioMSAR Zero™ fuels. Under the JDA, pursuant to which lab testing has been undertaken in Australia and the UK, the parties have jointly developed a deeper understanding of the technological advancements needed to supply sustainable HTL-derived bio-oils to the maritime sector.
As a result, and prior to diesel engine testing, the Amended JDA now sets out a non-binding but more specific development focus, with an updated time schedule for the joint testing of the parties’ respective fuel technologies, with Licella providing the scalable HTL bio-oil production expertise and Quadrise providing maritime market access and fuel experience. Upon successful completion of final lab tests on refined Licella HTL bio-oils in H2 2026, initial marine fuel diesel engine pilot tests are planned by the parties, after which Quadrise and Licella will seek to undertake the larger scale, third-party engine testing required to move to commercial vessel tests.
Commenting on this agreement Peter Borup, CEO of QED, said:
“The combination of Quadrise emulsion technology and the abundant feedstocks offered by Licella’s HTL technology offers an increasingly promising pathway to scalability of bioMSAR™ for the maritime industry, and a potential way of mitigating the price pressures with other bio-feedstocks.”
Commenting on this agreement Dr Len Humphreys, Chief Executive Officer of Licella, said:
“The shipping industry needs sustainable fuel solutions that can truly scale, and that is exactly what Licella’s Cat-HTR™ technology delivers: abundant, low-cost feedstocks to meet the scale of the challenge. Our partnership with Quadrise brings together two highly complementary technologies, and with Quadrise’s maritime market expertise and fuel experience we see a compelling opportunity to accelerate the delivery of scalable, cost-competitive low-carbon marine fuels. This amended agreement reflects the strength of our relationship and our shared confidence in the pathway ahead, and we look forward to advancing testing and commercialisation together.”
