Major development to fuel jobs and investment

Altalto Immingham

Plans to develop what is expected to be Europe’s first commercial scale household and commercial solid waste to sustainable fuels plant in North East Lincolnshire have been submitted for approval by Altalto Immingham.

The development, close to the Humber Estuary, is also anticipated to bring hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, hundreds of jobs during construction and approximately 130 permanent jobs into the region.

Altalto Immingham is a subsidiary of sustainable fuels technology business Velocys and a collaboration with project co-investors British Airways and Shell.

The plant would take over half a million tonnes each year of non-recyclable everyday waste otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, and convert it into cleaner burning sustainable aviation fuel and road fuel.

Henrik Wareborn, chief executive at Velocys, said: “Velocys has a solution to decarbonise aviation fuel by converting an unwanted feedstock – household and commercial solid waste – to create a highly valuable product: sustainable transport fuels.

“This will cut greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, as well as improving air quality and helping to tackle our waste problem. This is a vital step towards the ultimate goal of living in a net zero carbon world by the middle of the century.”

The technology, integrated by Velocys, enables a net 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for each tonne of sustainable jet fuel that displaces a tonne of conventional fuel. The greenhouse gas reductions achieved from the plant’s annual output are equivalent to up to 40,000 standard size petrol engine cars.

Domestically producing the fuel will have the added benefit of improving the UK’s fuel supply and resilience given the UK currently imports more than 70% of its jet fuel from abroad.

Alex Cruz, British Airways chairman and chief executive, said: “The submission of the planning application marks a major milestone in this project and we are delighted with the progress being made. Sustainable fuels can be a game changer for aviation which will help power our aircraft for years to come.”

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