A commercial factory transforming human waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is set for construction in the county of Essex, in the southeast of the UK.
525,000 tonnes over 15 years
Biofuel manufacturer Firefly has partnered with Wizz Air for orders of up to 525,000 tonnes of SAF over 15 years. This will be supplied from the new plant in haven port, Harwich, which is expected to deliver its first output from 2028.
The SAF’s prime ingredient, human faecal matter, will come in an initial pilot from water utility company, Anglian Water, which has confirmed it will hand over the biosolids, formed as a by-product of its wastewater processing systems.
Firefly chief executive James Hygate has described biosolids as “kind of disgusting stuff” but “an amazing resource”, adding that “there aren’t many things cooler” than “turning sewage into jet fuel”.
SAF has been slated as the key to a sustainable future for aviation, as an alternative to burning fossil-fuel, but it is dogged by extortionate production costs and weak supply of primary materials.
Paul Hilditch, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “There’s enough biosolids in the UK for more than 200,000 tonnes of SAF. That’s enough to satisfy about half of the mandated SAF demand in 2030.
And not just the UK of course. Anywhere in the world where there are people, there’s poo.
Paul Hilditch, Chief operating officer of Firefly
However he cautioned, “We’re not the only answer – we need the other routes to SAF – but this new route to SAF has the potential to move the needle, it has the potential to be a significant contribution to UK SAF supply.
Reducing lifecycle emissions
Meanwhile, Wizz Air’s corporate and ESG1 officer, Yvonne Moynihan, has called on “policymakers to address barriers to SAF deployment at scale by incentivising production, providing price support, and embracing additional sustainable feedstocks for biofuel production.”
Wizz Air marks its two decades this year, and is trying to position itself as a “global leader of sustainable aviation and affordable travel”. The airline’s “investment in Firefly,” Moynihan said, “has the potential to reduce our lifecycle emissions by 100,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year” and, she added, “underscores our commitment to mainstream the use of SAF in our operations by 2030.”
2030 is the target gate set by the UK government for at least 10% of the UK’s aviation fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks.
- Environmental, Social and Governance ↩︎
