The United Kingdom government has opened the second application round of its £165 million ($205m) Advanced Fuels Fund that provides financial support for the construction of sustainable aviation fuel plants in the country. The grant funding is to be provided to first-of-a-kind commercial and demonstration scale projects at all development stages up to the start of construction. In the first round, five projects – Alfanar Energy (Lighthouse Green Fuels), LanzaTech UK (DRAGON), Fulcrum BioEnergy (NorthPoint) and Velocys (Altalto and e-Alto) – received funding totalling £82.3 million. The government is aiming to have five plants under construction by 2025 to help meet its proposed 10% mandate for SAF use by 2030. It has also launched a second consultation on the mandate, running until June 22, which sets out how the mandate will deliver carbon savings, provide incentives to SAF producers and encourage potential SAF investors. The government has also confirmed the University of Sheffield will deliver the first UK Clearing House to support the testing and certification of new SAF.

Announcing the moves, Aviation Minister Baroness Vere said: “This renewed support for sustainable aviation fuel is another step towards making Jet Zero a reality. Developing a UK SAF industry will not only put the country at the heart of green aviation worldwide, but also boost investment, jobs and fuel security in the UK.”

The government points to research indicating that by 2035, the UK SAF sector could generate a gross value added (GVA) of up to £742 million ($924m) annually and support up to 5,200 jobs, with a potential of a further 13,600 jobs from the growing SAF market through global exports. In addition, UK manufactured fuels could deliver a £550 million ($680m) per year benefit to the nation’s balance of payments and increase fuel security.

Selected projects in the Advanced Fuels Fund competition, which is being delivered with the support of Ricardo and E4Tech, are required to demonstrate their potential to produce SAF capable of reducing emissions by more than 70% on a lifecycle basis when used in place of conventional fossil jet fuel. As part of support for a diverse range of technologies that utilise a range of sustainable feedstocks, the fund will reserve a new ‘sub-pot’ of funding for the second window to support projects that use CO2 – either point source or direct air capture – as their main carbon source in fuel production. Projects that rely on crop feedstocks or used cooking oil are excluded from the competition. Announcement of the winners and start of the funding period for the second window is expected in September this year.

The purpose of the new SAF Mandate consultation is to seek views on:

• Overarching targets to be set for 2030 and beyond;
• Targets to supply power-to-liquid fuels and a cap on HEFA pathway fuels;
• A potential buy-out price, which determines the maximum incentive for supplying SAF;
• Eligible fuels and sustainability criteria;
• Design of the scheme including who the obligation applies to and how certificates will be issued, traded and used for compliance, and how the obligation will be discharged;
• The administrator and enforcement of the scheme; and
• Interactions with other domestic and international policymakers.

The UK’s commitment to net zero by 2050 requires a rapid decarbonisation of the economy, namely a 68% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 and a 75% reduction by 2035 from 1990 levels, including international aviation and shipping emissions. Given the level of uncertainty surrounding alternative solutions to decarbonising aviation, SAF is seen as one of the key levers in the transition, along with the co-benefit it brings in reducing sulphur dioxide and particulate matter emissions, and potentially other non-CO2 impacts, including contrails.

The government says the long-term obligation provided by a SAF mandate can generate demand for SAF, provide an incentive to SAF producers (in the form of  tradeable credit) and signal to investors the vital role the technology will play in the UK. It recognises that SAF production relies on technology that is yet to be proven at scale, leading to high initial capital and operating costs and uncertainty on return on investment.

“Without a long-term regulatory and policy framework in place to support industry and provide certainty, these factors act as barriers to an investable proposition for technology developers and investors. Consequently, production capacity will continue to be limited in the UK,” it acknowledges. “A SAF blending mandate will guarantee a level of SAF demand that provides more certainty to investors, and as a result will increase production level and drive emissions reductions. Early intervention and support in this market will drive the industry to move faster than it otherwise would.”

In the absence of an obligation on SAF, supply in the UK is assumed by the Department for Transport (DfT) in its Cost Benefit Analysis accompanying the consultation to be low, given the lack of demand certainty, apart from some incentive provided by the UK ETS and CORSIA for airlines to use SAF. Uptake on a business-as-usual basis is assumed to reach 2% of jet fuel demand by 2030 and 10% by 2050.

Under the DfT’s central trajectory to 2040 (of three possible ambition options – low, central and high), the level of the mandate, as a proportion of UK aviation fuel use, begins at 2% in 2025, rising linearly to 10% in 2030. From there, it increases to 22% in 2040, on track for a 2050 ambition of 50%, in line with the ‘high ambition’ scenario from the government’s Jet Zero Strategy.

However, says the DfT, there are “substantial risks” around all of the considered options if there are insufficient feedstocks available to produce the required SAF, either domestically or via imports. “In all three trajectories, we do not expect all SAF claimed under the mandate to be produced domestically,” it says, noting that the UK currently imports 61% of its jet fuel.

The SAF mandate will place an obligation on suppliers of aviation fuel to demonstrate that a given proportion of fuel supplied is SAF, in line with the trajectories. Suppliers will receive credits for each tonne of SAF supplied, which will vary based on the GHG abatement each fuel provides relative to a baseline abatement of 70% compared to standard jet kerosene. Suppliers can meet their obligation in three ways:

• The obligation can be met entirely through the supply of SAF.
• Fuel suppliers who exceed their obligation can sell excess credits to those suppliers who do not meet their obligation.
• Suppliers can buy out of their obligation by paying a fixed sum per credit of fuel not supplied.

The buy-out price is proposed as a core part of the mandate policy, to incentivise compliance with the mandate whilst also serving as a price cap on the cost to industry and consumers where the supply of SAF is not possible or too costly. Setting the buy-out price at the correct level is critical to ensure compliance with the mandate, says the DfT. If set too low then suppliers may choose to buy out instead of supplying SAF but if too high, any supplier unable to meet their obligation through the supply of SAF will face a large cost burden that in turn would place an undue financial strain on industry and, by extension, consumers.

The buy-out price can be calculated, says the DfT, as the cost per credit of the most expensive SAF pathway less the cost to supply kerosene. “Using the most expensive fuel pathway will ensure SAF fuel suppliers will be fully incentivised to meet the obligation,” it says, and is suggesting a buy-out price of £2/litre, or £2,657 per tonne.

A separate mandate for power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels requires a separate buy-out price and as they are a more costly fuel type, a higher buy-out price is needed, with the DfT proposing a central buy-out price of £2.75/litre, or £3,525 per tonne.

The government proposes that civil penalties be imposed on an obligated supplier or account holder applying for certificates if they fail to meet certain criteria. It is seeking views and supporting analysis on whether a minimum fuel uplift requirement on flights departing a UK airport should be introduced to discourage airlines from taking on extra fuel for inbound flights to avoid having to refuel in the UK for cost reasons, a practice known as tankering.

The DfT expects airlines will pass on at least some of the SAF purchasing costs to consumers in the form of increased ticket prices. The actual ticket price impacts of the SAF mandate policy will depend in part on the options chosen relating to the trajectory, buy-out price, HEFA cap and PtL target.

“As this consultation does not set out a preferred option on these elements, we are not able to set out central estimates of the ticket price impacts at this stage but hope to do so alongside the government response to the consultation,” says the DfT. “Impact on ticket prices will be an important factor when making decisions about the SAF mandate.”

In the short term, the DfT is expecting SAF production to be heavily focused in the developed nations but in the medium to long term, nations with cheaper access to renewable energy and currently un-utilised feedstocks will be a key part of the international SAF mix and global SAF production will ramp up quickly. Around 8 million litres of SAF were produced and used globally in 2016, compared to 300 million litres in 2022 and an expected 5 billion litres (4 million tonnes) by 2025. The DfT estimates there are currently 41.6 billion litres (33 million tonnes) under offtake agreements, “giving planned plants higher levels of certainty in the future demand for their product.”

The UK’s first SAF Clearing House is due to open this summer and will be led by the Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield. It will be based across the university’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre (SAF-IC) and Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC), where academics and industry will work together to develop new low and zero-carbon fuels and technologies.

Any new aviation fuel must meet strict specifications before it can be certified as safe for use in aircraft and must undergo stages of testing against a process to meet the required ASTM standard. The cost of this testing is a significant barrier to new fuels entering the market and the Clearing House will give advice to fuel producers on testing, provide assistance with testing facilities and facilitate fuel certification.

“This significant and much-needed addition to the UK’s decarbonisation landscape will help to reduce barriers to SAF delivery and will take a vital step on the journey to make SAF a viable solution for the future of aviation,” commented Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, Head of the Energy Institute.

“With our world-class sustainable aviation fuels research and testing facilities at SAF-IC, as well as the significant amount of sustainable power-to-liquids capabilities at the neighbouring TERC, we are ideally placed to drive forward the much-needed development, testing and delivery of SAF.”

Photo: Heathrow Airport

Christopher Surgenor

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A planned Saudi Arabian-backed sustainable aviation fuels plant in north-east England could be one of the first to start producing SAF made from household and commercial waste in the UK, following the project’s entry into the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase. The £1 billion ($1.2bn) Lighthouse Green Fuels plant, to be located in the Net Zero Teesside industrial cluster, will use gasification and Fischer-Tropsch technology to convert one million tonnes of waste into 180 million litres of SAF and green naphtha per year, the equivalent of fuelling more than 15,000 short-haul flights a year, and plans to start operations in 2027. The location has the potential to utilise the cluster’s proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure to further reduce the carbon intensity of the SAF produced. Global project development, manufacturing and engineering company alfanar has also announced it is actively evaluating other UK sites for its second and third SAF plants to be built by 2030 and 2035 respectively. To get these investments off the ground, alfanar is urging the UK government to progress its intended SAF mandate and introduce a price stability mechanism for early SAF projects.

“With the third largest aviation network in the world, and with one of the world’s largest potential offshore CO2 stores, the UK has the industrial and geological advantages to become a global leader in developing green aviation fuel with the lowest possible emissions using CCS technology,” said Mishal Almutlaq, Chief Investment Officer of alfanar. “That is why we want to build our first ever SAF plant in the UK by 2027 and two further plants by 2035.”

The Lighthouse Green Fuels project entered the FEED phase last month after awarding the FEED services contract to global industrial engineering company Worley, which will develop the existing front-end engineering package and integrate the licensor scope to provide a greater level of definition to the project. An important phase in any large construction, FEED can comprise a thorough project scope, complete project budget, total cost of ownership, implementation timeline and initial risk assessment. Being the first to reach the FEED milestone, claims alfanar, makes it the most advanced SAF project of its size in the UK.

Welcoming the announcement, UK Aviation Minister Robert Courts said: “Aviation will be central to our future growth, so it’s essential we deliver greener flying. Thanks to alfanar’s investment, the UK could be producing cleaner fuel in a few years, not only making us more sustainable, but also creating more jobs and strengthening our economy.”

The project aims to make fuel that produces 80% fewer GHG emissions than fuel from fossil sources, so saving around 300,000 tonnes per year of emissions. By potentially utilising the East Coast Cluster’s CCS infrastructure, the plant could achieve GHG savings in excess of 750,000 tonnes per year, said alfanar.

The Mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, said the plant would create 700 good-quality, well-paid jobs during construction and 240 full-time roles when operational, adding: “This milestone by alfanar further strengthens our region’s position as the number one place to develop new clean energy tech.”

The project was awarded £2.4 million ($2.8m) in grant funding last December under the Department for Transport’s Green Fuels, Green Skies competition for the development of SAF production plants in the UK.

“To deliver net zero aviation, the government has already established the Jet Zero Council, has announced grant funding for SAF projects and is consulting on a Jet Zero Strategy. To continue this leadership, and to enable alfanar’s first SAF project and other similar early projects to progress, price certainty is also needed,” said Almutlaq. “We are therefore calling on the UK government to progress the SAF mandate and introduce a price stabilisation mechanism, such as a Contract for Difference for SAF.”

Teesside is the location of the UK’s first Hydrogen Transport Hub and local Teesside Airport is aiming to be the UK’s first hydrogen-ready airport. As well as its SAF production ambitions, alfanar, which has a presence in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe, said it plans to develop further green projects in the UK and beyond utilising CCS and hydrogen infrastructure.

Image: Render of proposed Lighthouse Green Fuels plant

Three significant new agreements have been announced to collectively deliver more than 1.5 billion litres of sustainable aviation fuel to seven airline operators, reports Tony Harrington. German-based freight airline DHL Express has agreed to acquire more than 800 million litres of SAF within the next five years through two agreements, one with oil company bp and the other with wastes-to-fuel producer Neste. The carrier described the combined SAF deals as one of the largest in aviation to date. In a simultaneous development, the oneworld airline alliance has announced the intention of six of its 14-member airlines to jointly acquire almost the same amount – up to 200 million gallons, or around 750 million litres – of SAF from US-based renewable fuels provider Gevo for use in key Californian airports from 2027. And in the UK, the Saudi Arabian industrial group Alfanar has announced a £1 billion ($1.3bn) investment in a new waste-to-energy project to produce up to 180 million litres of SAF per year.   

DHL Express said the bp and Neste deals would provide SAF from both suppliers until 2026, sufficient to sustainably fuel 1,000 Boeing 777 freight flights per year for 12 years, between Leipzig, Germany, and Cincinnati, USA, and cutting CO2 emissions on a lifecycle basis equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 400,000 passenger cars. Together with a previous commitment to introduce SAF to its operations in San Francisco, Amsterdam and East Midlands, UK, the latest agreements by DHL Express will exceed 50% of its target to achieve 10% SAF blending for all of its air transport by 2026.

“Using SAF is currently one of the aviation industry’s key routes to reducing CO2 emissions over the aviation fuel lifecycle with currently-available aircraft types,” said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, which has committed to using 30% SAF blending for all of its air transport by 2030.  DHL Express CEO John Pearson highlighted continuing concerns in the aviation industry about the global shortage of SAF. “Our key focus is to inspire more SAF suppliers to address the current supply gap,” he said. “At the same time, we are calling on policy-makers to set the right framework to accelerate market ramp-up of SAF in the EU and worldwide, including an accounting mechanism that allows flexible SAF purchases and usage.”  

Air bp SVP Martin Thomsen said the company was intensifying its partnerships with airports and airlines to help them decarbonise. “As bp transitions to an integrated energy company, we are leveraging our value chain encompassing feedstocks, global production, logistics and airport infrastructure,” he reported. “We are promoting SAF at pace to support global aviation to realise its lower carbon emissions.”

Peter Vanacker, CEO of Finland-based Neste, added: “This milestone agreement, our largest ever for SAF, underlines the growing need and urgency – as well as the commitment – to act on aviation-related emissions. SAF is a cornerstone of the aviation industry’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It requires a joint effort across the aviation value chain with all stakeholders, using all available raw materials and solutions, to reach that goal.”

In the US, the oneworld airline alliance has announced a plan for six of its members – Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways – to collectively acquire up to 200 million gallons of SAF per year at a range of airports in California, for five years from 2027. The fuel will be sourced from Colorado-based renewable fuels producer Gevo and made from inedible corn products, processed to create ethanol, then converted to SAF. The RSB-certified fuel will be supplied to airports including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose from three new facilities under development in the US Midwest.

The Gevo deal is the second to be announced by oneworld within five months. Last November, the alliance revealed a joint commitment by most of its member airlines to purchase more than 350 million gallons (1.34 billion litres) of blended sustainable aviation fuel from another supplier, Aemetis, for uplift from San Francisco.

The Chairman of oneworld, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said the latest deal “reaffirms the leadership of our alliance in supporting the ambitious aviation decarbonisation targets, as well as our active role in driving the use of ICAO-recognised SAF at a commercial scale.” Rob Gurney, CEO of oneworld, added: “Five months ago, we committed as an alliance to a target of 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. A second major sustainable aviation fuel offtake among member airlines builds further upon that commitment, while demonstrating the value that can be delivered when our member airlines work together.”

Gevo said it had developed two alcohol-to-jet methods which would use a variety of feedstocks produced using sustainable farming and renewable agricultural techniques. The company said its production processes would incorporate renewable energy from sources including wind turbines, biogas and combined heat and power systems (CHP) to boost efficiency and cut carbon intensity to net zero.  “When oneworld member airlines show they understand the importance of reducing fossil-carbon greenhouse gas emissions, they start making real change in the industry,” said Gevo CEO Dr Patrick Gruber.   

In yet another development, the Saudi Arabian industrial group Alfanar is to invest £1 billion in delivering the UK’s first commercial-scale production plant for sustainable aviation fuel. The Lighthouse Green Fuels project in the Tees Valley, north-east England, is expected to produce up to 180 million litres of SAF per year from converted British domestic and commercial waste. It will do so through a waste-to-liquid process which uses gasification and Fischer-Tropsch technology to convert refuse which otherwise would be incinerated or used as landfill.

The project follows a £2.4 million award to Alfanar last year as part of the UK government’s ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition to support domestic SAF production. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Alfanar investment during a visit to the Arabian Gulf, where he met with the leaders of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss increased oil procurement to replace supplies previously sourced from Russia.

The Lighthouse Green Fuels project also complements the establishment in Teesside of the UK’s first Hydrogen Transport Hub, a partnership with Teesside University to create an innovation centre focused on clean energy research, development and testing for all modes of transport. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the Saudi SAF development, in addition to creating 700 construction jobs and another 240 positions once the plant was operational, “further cements our region as the global go-to place to develop ground-breaking green energy technology.”

It is also aligned with the region’s ambitions for Teesside Airport to become “the UK’s first hydrogen-ready airport, and an early adopter of these sustainable aviation fuels,” he said. A hydrogen refuelling station has already been established at the airport as part of a trial across the region, and a number of organisations are testing hydrogen-powered commercial and support vehicles, with more to be introduced.

Image: DHL Express

Eight proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects have been shortlisted by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) to share up to £15 million ($20m) in grant funding to support early-stage development of large-scale SAF production plants in the UK. All selected projects have the potential to reduce emissions by more than 70% on a lifecycle basis when used in place of conventional fossil jet fuel, said the DfT. The plants plan to produce jet fuel from a variety of sources including sewage; household and commercial waste; alcohol derived from wastes; and from captured atmospheric carbon dioxide. Organisations standing to gain from the funding include Velocys, Fulcrum BioEnergy, LanzaTech, Lanzajet, Advanced Biofuel Solutions, Alfanar Energy, Green Fuels Research, Nova Pangaea and Carbon Engineering, with a few of the projects shortlisted still at their feasibility stage.

Research carried out for the DfT indicates that by 2040 the SAF sector could generate between £0.7 billion and £1.66 billion a year for the UK economy, with potentially half of this coming from the export of intellectual property and the provision of engineering services. Between 5,000 and 11,000 green jobs could also be created across the nation and SAF production could also increase UK fuel security.

The eight projects shortlisted in the Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) competition are:

• Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd – ABSL will work with a British refinery and engineering company to produce a detailed engineering design for a new facility in Cheshire, north-west England. The plant will use gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology to convert 130,000 tonnes of waste a year into aviation fuel.
• Alfanar Energy Ltd – The company’s Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) project, located in Tees Valley, north-east England, will use gasification and FT technology to convert household and commercial waste into around 180 million litres of SAF and naphtha. The project is currently completing design optimisation work ahead of starting the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage by the end of 2021.
• Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd – The Fulcrum NorthPoint project, being developed at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex in north-west England, will convert residual waste into around 100 million litres of SAF using gasification and FT technology. Funding will support the FEED stage of project work.
• Green Fuels Research Ltd – A joint endeavour between Green Fuels, Petrofac and Cranfield University, the FIREFLY project aims to demonstrate and certify a technology route to SAF from sewage sludge. Funding will support the project’s pre-FEED development stage.
• LanzaTech UK Ltd – Funding will support the FEED stage of a proposed facility in Port Talbot, South Wales, which is expected to produce over 100 million litres of SAF per year, using ethanol from biogenic wastes and industry flue gases.
• LanzaTech UK Ltd and Carbon Engineering – Funding will support a feasibility study into producing 100 million litres of SAF per year using Carbon Engineering’s direct air capture (DAC) technology, and hydrogen from water electrolysis to convert into SAF using Lanzatech’s gas fermentation and LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet technology. Project members include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
• Nova Pangaea Technologies (UK) Ltd – Along with British Airways and LanzaJet, the feasibility project will study the optimal design to construct a facility that produces more than 100 million litres of SAF a year using UK woody residues.
• Velcocys Projects Ltd – The funding will support progress towards FEED of the Altalto project being developed by Velocys and British Airways to build a commercial waste-to-SAF plant in Immingham, north-east England, using gasification and FT technology.

The eight projects are understood to be assured of funding with the amounts to each to be announced very shortly and subject to contract. The bulk of the funding will go to those projects in the pre-FEED or FEED phase with around £2 million expected to be awarded to those in their feasibility stage. The GFGS funding period is a fixed term from August to the end of March 2022.

Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways, which is involved in four of the projects, commented: “We’re determined to transform the sustainability of our industry and this potential GFGS government funding is critical in helping us to show the feasibility of building SAF plants. These plants would be a game-changer for our industry, not only delivering SAF but also creating many hundreds of highly skilled jobs while increasing economic growth around the UK.”

Henrik Wareborn, CEO of Velocys, which benefited from funding under the government’s £20 million F4C competition held in 2017, said: “We welcome this new funding as it will help bring Altalto closer to the production of SAF. The GFGS initiative highlights the importance of building SAF facilities throughout the country that will help the UK not only to meet the targets set but also make a quantifiable impact on climate change.”

Added Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of US-based LanzaJet, which is partnering on one of the shortlisted projects with British Airways and Nova Pangaea, said: “Together, we are grateful to the Prime Minister and DfT for their support in advancing the production of SAF in the UK.”

The Green Fuels Research (GFR) project with Petrofac and Cranfield University will demonstrate an integrated route to SAF using sewage sludge as feedstock and encompasses engineering design and construction of a UK demonstration plant capable of generating the quantities of fuel to allow certification to international standards. This in turn, says GFR, will lead to a first-of-a-kind commercial refinery and roll-out to several locations where airports, pipeline terminals and wastewater treatment works are in close proximity. The company says around 53 million tonnes per annum of untreated sewage sludge are collected in the UK from about 8,500 wastewater treatment works.

Commenting on the competition announcement, Green Fuels CEO James Hygate said: “We’re delighted to have this opportunity to prove the environmental and commercial viability of the FIREFLY route, which integrates several existing technologies into a sustainable industrial process. Among many advantages, FIREFLY will use fully biogenic feedstock which will emit no fossil carbon, won’t contribute to deforestation or compete with food production, and will not rely on imports with long, high-emission supply chains. And perhaps most importantly, we expect to demonstrate exceptional carbon savings, meaning this is potentially a very fast route to decarbonising aviation that won’t rely on as yet unknown technologies.”

The competition has been managed by consultants Ricardo and once the funding has been distributed, it will monitor the eight projects on behalf of the DfT.

“We have been amazed by the diversity and creativity of the entries,” said Alexandra Humphris-Bach, Ricardo Principal Consultant. “All the selected projects have a clear potential to produce SAF capable of reducing emissions by more than 70% on a lifecycle basis, when used in place of a conventional fossil jet fuel.”

The UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “Aviation will be central to our future growth and plans to build back greener from the pandemic, which is why we have invested over £20 million in the past year to decarbonise the sector in line with our world-leading net zero targets.

“With less than 100 days to go until COP26, we’re ramping up our efforts even further to help companies break ground on trailblazing waste to jet fuel plants and put the UK at the forefront of international SAF production.”

Photo: British Airways is involved in four of the eight shortlisted projects