The UK government is financing five projects working on the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The British executive announced £165 million of funding for these projects to produce sustainable jet fuel over the next few years.
The UK took another step towards net zero carbon emissions and helping its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry to take flight as government awarded 5 companies a share of the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund.https://t.co/uvbNNmqBJR@transportgovuk @Mark_J_Harper
— Logistics UK (@LogisticsUKNews) December 22, 2022
1. Funds from the Advanced Fuels Fund
Based across the UK, the five projects will receive money from the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF), which is part of the government’s Jet Zero Strategy to decarbonise aviation by 2050. LanzaTech UK Ltd., for example, has received a £25 million grant from the UK AFF Competition for its DRAGON facility project. DRAGON stands for Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal Of Netzero and will convert waste gases into synthetic kerosene for use in SAF.
“LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet technology paired with LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process is changing how we think about the circular economy across the world and driving decarbonization for aviation,” said Jimmy Samartzis, CEO, LanzaJet, which expertise will be to transform ethanol into SAF.
We’ve announced the winners of our £165m Advanced Fuels Fund, as we work towards our goal of #JetZero. Here is more on why Sustainable Aviation Fuel is the future 👇 https://t.co/6w4r67Uh3l pic.twitter.com/ym8yPSyVb5
— Department for Transport (@transportgovuk) December 23, 2022
The Department for Transport’s AFF Competition was established to support the UK advanced fuels sector in development and commercial deployment of innovative fuel production technologies that are capable of significantly reducing near-term UK aviation emissions, strengthening the UK project pipeline, and broadening technology options.
2. 2030 SAF targets
UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper said funding these five SAF projects would help to “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.
Mark Harper, UK Transport Secretary
As for the CEO of Airlines UK Tim Alderslade, he congratulated the £165 million of funding together, stressing the move as a significant milestone which will help achieve the the 10% SAF mandate by 2030. “The government shares our ambition of a home-grown SAF industry here in the UK,” said Alderslade.
3. Five plants by 2025
The sites will have the ability to produce more than 300,000 tonnes of SAF per year once in operation, which will reduce CO2 emissions by an average of 200,000 tonnes annually, according to the government. By 2025, at least five commercial SAF plants shall be under construction in the UK. Projects to receive funding include SAF plants in Teesside, Immingham and Ellesmere Port, which will convert everyday household and commercial waste, such as black bin bag waste, into sustainable fuel.
