Two emerging UK-based renewable fuel producers have announced plans to scale the development of eSAF, sustainable aviation fuel created by combining captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen through the power-to-liquid (PtL) pathway. OXCCU, a climate technology spinoff from Oxford University, will partner with another UK company, the infrastructure provider px Group, to develop a first-of-a-kind eSAF demonstration plant at the Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber region, while Zero Petroleum has signed a MoU with Airbus to advance eSAF development to enable commercial-scale production of 100% drop-in synthetic jet fuel from 2026. The UK’s proposed SAF mandate includes a PtL obligation on fuel producers to supply 0.2% of total jet fuel demand from 2028, rising to 3.5% in 2040.

Key benefits of eSAF are the abundance of CO2 either captured from the atmosphere or direct from industrial plants, and the ability to recycle the toxic gases into energy products including SAF and renewable diesel fuel.

OXCCU develops catalysts and processes to transform carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into non-fossil fuels, chemicals and plastics. It plans to develop SAF by using an iron-based catalyst to combine captured CO2 and green hydrogen in a single step, instead, it says, of the traditional, more complex and more expensive two-step process involving Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) and Fischer-Tropsch reaction.

The company has demonstrated what it claims is the world’s first direct CO2 hydrogenation process, converting CO2 into SAF while creating minimal oxygenate byproducts, and will develop the first-of-a-kind demo plant at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park, with the fuel to be created from a combination of biogenic carbon dioxide and green hydrogen.

With a planned start date for operations of 2026, the fuel company’s initial daily production will be 160 kilograms (200 litres) of liquid fuel, most of which will be SAF, while px Group will provide the engineering design and construction of the Outside Battery Limits (OSBL) support facilities.

OXCCU’s renewable fuel plans have attracted significant support from climate-focused investors, with backers including Clean Energy Ventures, Aramco Ventures, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Braavos Capital, and Eni Next, the corporate venture division of Italy’s Eni energy company. 

“The strategic combination of OXCCU’s highly efficient novel catalyst and process with px Group’s world leading facilities creates the perfect environment for us to scale up,” said OXCCU’s CEO Andrew Symes. “This project will demonstrate CO2 and hydrogen directly converted into jet fuel-range hydrocarbons and the potential for much lower cost SAF.”

Geoff Holmes, px Group’s CEO, welcomed the new partnership and the development at his company’s Saltend facility. “We are passionate about cutting CO2 emissions and helping the UK to meet its sustainability ambitions,” he said. “This groundbreaking project with OXCCU further meets this commitment and demonstrates the confidence in Saltend as a pioneering centre for industrial decarbonisation projects.”    

The Zero Petroleum partnership with Airbus is designed to leverage both companies’ experience in order to progress the development of eSAF and expedite its certification as a recognised zero emission aviation fuel.

Zero is led by founder and CEO Paddy Lowe, a former engineer and executive of the Williams, Mercedes and McLaren Formula One motor racing teams.

The company recently opened Plant Zero.1 near Oxford, which it claims to be the world’s first fully-featured synthetic fuel plant. The facility contains equipment for all three separate processes used to create the fuel: direct air capture, electrolysis to create green hydrogen and Zero’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology, DirectFT. The company plans to build a commercial scale plant (Plant Zero.2) to start production of its eSAF in 2026.

Airbus is targeting 15% SAF in its global fuel mix by the end of this year and at least 30% by 2030 and has partnered in industry trials the assess the impact of SAF use on reducing CO2 and non-CO2 aircraft emissions.

“By combining Airbus’ legacy of innovation with Zero’s proven, high-performance eSAF solution, we are well positioned to advance on the industry’s net zero decarbonisation targets faster than today,” said Lowe.

Zero added that both companies had made significant contributions to decarbonising air transport, with the fuel company securing in 2021 the Guinness Book of Records title of ‘first aircraft powered by synthetic fuel’, and Airbus having successfully tested commercial and military aircraft with 100% SAF.

“The fuel’s energy density and ability to power existing engines without modification make it an ideal solution for aviation, which faces distinct challenges as a hard-to-abate sector,” said the company. “Zero’s agreement with Airbus could lead to a new technology pathway being certified for the everyday use of eSAF in aviation.”

Top photo: OXCCU’s first demo plant will be located at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park in north-east England

Bottom photo: Airbus CSO Julie Kitcher and Zero Petroleum CEO Paddy Lowe with their teams

Tony Harrington

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The University of Sheffield in the UK has become a key partner in two new programmes supporting the production of sustainable aviation fuel from air-captured carbon dioxide. A mobile Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant developed by London-based Mission Zero Technologies (MZT) has been acquired by the university’s Transitional Energy Research Centre (TERC) to help validate CO2-based SAF ahead of certification. The plant, which has just been activated by MZT, is housed in a six-metre shipping container, enabling its transportation to and use in any location. Another UK enterprise, renewable fuels producer Zero Petroleum, recently announced partnerships with companies including Boeing to help progress development of power-to-liquid SAF, created by combining captured carbon with green hydrogen. Boeing will jointly establish a testing programme for Zero Petroleum’s SAF at the University of Sheffield Energy Innovation Centre, of which the airframer is a founding member.

Mission Zero Technologies says its new DAC plant can retrieve an annual 50 tonnes of ‘high-purity’ CO2 from the atmosphere. Operated remotely, but energised by solar power generated on site, the portable plant is designed to enable rapid scaling and to integrate with load-variable renewable power grids, providing “a plug-and-play source of sustainable carbon on demand for both sustainable use and permanent removal.”

Dr Nicholas Chadwick, the company’s CEO, welcomed the partnership with the University of Sheffield, which, through its Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC), provides one of Europe’s biggest and best-regarded zero carbon energy and research facilities.

Using the MZT technology, TERC will validate end-to-end production of jet fuel created from recycled atmospheric carbon, ahead of the SAF’s certification. It will use water and solar energy sourced on the TERC site.

The companies said DAC was widely recognised as the only technology able to deliver sustainable carbon feedstock to support the UK government’s proposed mandate of 10% SAF use by 2030.

“Direct air capture is a multi-use technology able to drive deep industrial decarbonisation and permanent carbon removal,” said Dr Chadwick. “Through pioneering partnership we’re already realising that potential.”    

MZT said its DAC plant was one of only two such systems globally to secure commercial funding. Its backers include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the XPRIZE foundation, Anglo American and Stripe, as well as the UK government.

“This first-of-a-kind UK DAC-to-jet fuel project will provide project financiers and developers with the analysis required to scale a UK SAF ecosystem,” said MZT. “By proving DAC’s readiness for industrial scale, it will also pave the way for more fossil-dependent industries to rapidly decarbonise.”

TERC Managing Director Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian said the DAC deal was “hugely exciting for us, and for the world, as we discover more about the potential for decarbonised industrial processes and air transport using novel DAC technology.”

In separate recent initiatives, Zero Petroleum, an emerging UK-based renewable fuels company, announced partnerships with companies including Boeing to progress development of power-to-liquid SAF, created by combining air-captured carbon and green hydrogen.

Boeing will jointly establish a testing programme for Zero Petroleum’s SAF at the University of Sheffield’s Energy Innovation Centre.

The aircraft maker’s partnership with the university is designed help innovative fuel producers to test, mature and scale their SAF, while its tie-up with Zero Petroleum follows other recent SAF collaborations in the UAE, Ireland, Japan, Ethiopia and Brazil.

“The aviation industry needs to move quickly to meet upcoming mandates for de-fossilisation,” said Zero Petroleum’s CEO, Paddy Lowe. “Synthetic fuels provide the only fully scalable solution.”

In Oxfordshire, England, the company recently opened Plant Zero.1, an engineering-scale production facility which it claims to be “the world’s first fully featured synthetic fuel plant,” with on-site capability to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air, generate renewable electricity from solar panels, produce green hydrogen from water electrolysis, and create synthetic fuel.

The SAF currently produced at Plant Zero.1 is an “engineering grade” product, developed for market evaluation and approvals required for ASTM certification. Planning is underway for a second facility, Plant Zero.2, which the company says could start making 100% drop-in synthetic fuels as early as 2025.

“Collaborating with Boeing will now enable us to accelerate the qualification process and put us on course for commercial delivery by 2026,” said Lowe. “Our collaboration with Boeing sets an industry precedent for the recognition and support for synthetic fuels in the global pivot to sustainable solutions.”

Sheila Remes, Boeing’s VP Environmental Sustainability, said that for the next 30 years, SAF would be aviation’s biggest lever in reducing emissions, “but we need more of it now to enable those reductions. Working with innovators around the world such as Zero is crucial as we collaborate to develop new, sustainable pathways to produce and scale up SAF.”

Top photo: MZT’s modular DAC unit at the University of Sheffield’s TERC

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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