NEXT Renewable Fuels Inc. and Dansuk Industrial Corp. have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop strategic and commercial partnerships including, but not limited to, partnerships involving feedstock, biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel (collectively, feedstock and biofuels).

Dansuk is a leading biodiesel producer and feedstock aggregator headquartered in South Korea. Dansuk has significant positions in low-carbon feedstocks in the Asia region and ample tank farm infrastructure for feedstock and product storage. This MOU is Dansuk's first feedstock agreement with an American clean-fuels company. NEXT is designing a world-scale clean fuels facility in Oregon to provide low-carbon renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel to global markets.

The MOU envisions creating a definitive framework agreement involving (i) a two-party commercial arrangement that could include the supply and sale of Feedstock and Biofuels between the parties through NEXT's wholly-owned subsidiary, GoLoBiomass, LLC; and/or (ii) a strategic arrangement between the parties which could involve investment in, and development of, feedstock pre-treatment facilities in South Korea, the United States and/or other countries.

"Our MOU with Dansuk advances our relationship with a global leader in low-carbon feedstock aggregation and renewable fuel production while continuing to build our competitive advantage in producing clean fuels in the United States," said Christopher Efird, CEO and chairperson of NEXT. "We are thrilled to be working with Dansuk and excited to be able to leverage their expertise in the industry as we work toward establishing low carbon intensity feedstock supply lines worldwide."

Dansuk is working to contribute to human society by pursuing its social and environmental responsibilities under the founding philosophy of "A company must continue to thrive and develop as it contributes to human society." Through active investment in eco-friendly business, it has successfully built a biofuel business that achieved exporting roughly 70 percent of the total biofuel export in Korea in 2022. The biofuel exported by Dansuk over the past 10 years has contributed to reducing global carbon emissions by about 2.4 million tons. Dansuk plans to further expand its recycling biofuel business portfolio to include sustainable marine fuels, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation businesses.

"Biofuel is a newly emerging eco-friendly renewable fuel, a sustainable and future-oriented business field, and I am delighted to advance our decarbonization efforts through the MOU with NEXT. Dansuk aims to become a global company, and we have high confidence in this partnership as it is our first feedstock agreement with an American clean fuels company." said Seung-uk Han, CEO and chairperson of Dansuk.

The MOU focuses on feedstocks derived from used cooking oil and animal tallows, but other sources could also be included. Historically, used cooking oil and animal tallows would be discarded in landfills, but companies like NEXT and Dansuk would use this waste to create fuels that are 60-80 percent cleaner than petroleum-based fuels. The United States and South Korea have established goals to accelerate the use of clean fuels in an effort to combat climate change and decarbonize the transportation industry. The Dansuk-NEXT collaboration will contribute to these broader decarbonization efforts through partnerships across the value chain focusing on low carbon feedstocks. Additionally, the collaboration could also include infrastructure and pretreatment development as the two companies explore leveraging each other's existing and future facilities through commercial agreements to further strengthen the companies' strategic partnership.