Lift off for plant to fuel jet liners with bin liners
Immingham will be at the centre of the UK’s push to slash carbon emissions from aviation, with the Government awarding Velocys PLC £27m to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility.
Named Altalto, the project will see the conversion of black bin bag waste into liquid fuel on a commercial scale, with operations expected to begin in 2028.
Unveiled as part of the £165m Advanced Fuels Fund, the Government is also supporting new plants in Teesside, Port Talbot and Ellesmere Port.
These projects will create thousands of green jobs, and will use different methods of creating SAF, whether converting it from everyday household and commercial waste to steel mill off-gases.
Velocys has also received funding for another project which will see the early development of a SAF plant using carbon capture and hydrogen made from renewable electricity, which has received £2.5m from the same tranche of funding.
Building on the success of the Green Fuels, Green Skies programme, the five projects will alone produce over 300,000 tonnes of SAF a year.
The successful projects will also slash CO2 emissions by an average of 200,000 tonnes each year once fully up and running – the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Using waste or by-products to refuel airliners sounds like a flight of fancy, but thanks to £165m of Government funding it’s going to help us make guilt-free flying a reality.
“It’s exactly this kind of innovation that will help us create thousands of green jobs across the country and slash our carbon emissions.”
Henrik Wareborn, chief executive officer, Velocys, said: “We’re pleased to receive two grant awards from the Advanced Fuels Fund, which will help to accelerate the production of SAF at commercial scale in the UK using our technology.
“The Altalto grant will allow us to begin FEED for our waste-to-SAF plant in Immingham, which already has planning permission.
“The e-fuels grant allows us to work with our partners to explore the UK-based production of Power-to-Liquid SAF.”
