Dr Nicholas Ball
Nicholas Ball is the CEO and founder of XFuel, a climate-tech company developing drop-in, low-carbon fuels for the maritime and aviation sectors using difficult waste streams that are typically costly to dispose of. Headquartered in Ireland with R&D operations in Spain, XFuel focuses on circular fuel production that works with existing engines and infrastructure, addressing one of shipping’s biggest challenges: cutting emissions without blowing up costs.
With a background in engineering and fuel technologies, Nicholas has spent more than a decade developing processes that avoid energy-intensive pathways and prioritise real-world adoption. Under his leadership, XFuel has secured EU backing through the EIC, advanced multiple pilot plants, and is now moving toward commercial-scale deployment. His work sits at the uncomfortable but necessary intersection of climate ambition, industrial economics and the hard realities of decarbonising global trade.