Texas-based renewable fuels company Velocys has secured £4.9 million ($6.49 million) in development funding, enough to permit it to progress past the initial feasibility stage to the next phase in its waste-to-sustainable jet fuel project in the UK. That will include a detailed pre-front-end engineering and design study and site permitting activities for the first plant of its kind in the UK. Once complete, the plant, which will use gassification technology licensed from Advanced Plasma Solutions, is anticipated to convert hundreds of thousands of tons of post-recycled waste otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, into cleaner burning, sustainable fuels.
The project is being developed with technical and financial support from Shell and British Airways (Stand W402), the latter will use the jet fuel component, which is expected to deliver a more-than-70 percent greenhouse gas reduction and reduce particulate matter emissions by 90 percent over conventional jet fuel.
“Successful funding of this next development phase further demonstrates the strength of Velocys’s renewable fuels business,” said company CEO David Pummell, at the announcement last month. “Today, the UK has taken another step forward toward becoming a world leader in low-carbon aviation. Government funding, recent policy changes, and successful completion of the feasibility study have enabled Velocys and its partners to move forward to the next phase in developing the UK’s first waste-to-renewable jet fuel plant.”
Part of that funding consists of a £434,000 grant from the Department for Transport under the Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C), which aims to increase domestic production of advanced, low-carbon fuels capable of tackling emissions from the aviation and heavy goods transport industries. “The waste-to-jet fuel project has the potential to help transform the aviation industry by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the air quality around our country’s airport,” said Chris Grayling, MP, secretary of state for transport. “This is why we are providing support to this important technology as part of our £22 million of funding for alternative fuels, which will pave the way for clean growth in the UK.”
“We are very pleased that the government has recognized the importance of alternative fuels for aviation, and has supported our joint project with Velocys which will help to reduce carbon emissions and create UK jobs and growth,” noted British Airways CEO Alex Cruz.