LanzaTech Confirms Plans for First UK Commercial-Scale Alcohol-to-Jet Fuel Facility in South Wales

by Christopher Surgenor (GreenAir Online) US-based LanzaTech has announced plans to build and commission what it claims will be the world’s first commercial-scale alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) production facility using ethanol feedstock made from steel mill waste gases and other wastes. The proposed facility in South Wales, UK, is expected to produce around 100 million litres per year of ATJ synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK), which with a 30% blend target will yield around 330 million litres of blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually. LanzaTech will both build and operate this first UK deployment of the LanzaJet ATJ technology and then has ambitions with spin-out company LanzaJet to develop multiple follow-on projects in the UK and globally as the SAF market develops. This will be done primarily via a licensing model in which customers build, own and operate facilities that use the LanzaJet technology. The SAF from the South Wales facility will be used by UK-based airlines, including long-term partner Virgin Atlantic, which used LanzaTech jet fuel made from recycled waste gases on a commercial flight from Orlando to London Gatwick in October 2018.

That same year, LanzaTech, Virgin Atlantic and partners received a £410,000 ($570,000) grant from the UK Department for Transport (DfT) in respect of its Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition for a feasibility study on the project, which is now into the planning and permitting stage. For now, LanzaTech is holding back on releasing a fuel production start-up date.

The facility will be developed within Phase 2 of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC), a consortium involving 17 partners led by UK technology-based construction and engineering company Costain, which is aiming to create the world’s first net-zero emissions industrial zone and is aligned with the UK government’s ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution. This phase of SWIC is supported by £20 million ($28m) grant funding from Innovate UK, with an additional £17.6 million provided by industry, and aims to reduce industrial emissions at sites throughout South Wales in support of Welsh NetZero targets.

“We are evaluating sites for an integrated recycled carbon fuel to SAF plant but are also working on a standalone ATJ facility that takes any source of ethanol and converts it to SAF,” the spokesperson told GreenAir. “A lot does depend on the policy landscape in the UK as currently fuels made from recycled carbon, including industrial off gases, don’t qualify under the government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). As part of a recent DfT consultation, there is scope they will be included in the future.”

In February, British Airways revealed it was to invest in LanzaJet and purchase SAF to be produced at the US producer’s Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia and used on BA flights from the US. The partnership also extends to the airline supporting LanzaJet plans for a potential commercial-scale UK biorefinery (see article).

LanzaTech has also announced the appointment of Jim Woodger as Managing Director of LanzaTech UK. Woodger previously served at Corbion, TerraVia (formerly Solazyme) and UOP’s Renewable Energy & Chemicals business. READ MORE