OXCCU and px Group Announce New SAF Project

by Poppy Clements (Hydrocarbon Engineering)px Group has announced that OXCCU will develop a first-of-a-kind demonstration plant at its Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber, UK, that will convert carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

OXCCU is a leading carbon-to-value company that develops catalysts and processes to convert carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into fuels, chemicals and plastics.

The climate-tech spin-out from the University of Oxford has demonstrated the world’s first direct carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation process, turning CO2 directly into aviation fuel range hydrocarbons, also known as SAF, with minimal oxygenate byproducts.

The project presents a novel approach to SAF production simplifying a multi-step process to a single step.

OXCCU will now build a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) demonstration plant at Saltend Chemicals Park, which will be fed by biogenic CO2, and green hydrogen. The plant is expected to produce 160 kg (200 l) of liquid fuel per day, of which the majority will be SAF. The approach directly aligns with the Advanced Fuel Fund’s objective to use CO2 as a carbon source for SAF production due to feedstock concerns at scale with the other biofuel SAF routes.

px Group will provide the engineering design and construction of the Outside Battery Limits (OSBL) support facilities as well as operations and maintenance when the plant is up and running. The plan is for operations to start in 2026.

The project has been announced at a time when the UK Government has developed a framework to cement the UK’s status as a world leader in SAF, with a SAF mandate and a revenue certainty scheme to boost uptake and help create jobs.

The government has committed to having at least five commercial SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025, viewing low or zero emission technologies as key to sustainability targets.

The announcement with OXCCU follows the Hydrogen-to-Humber H2H Saltend decarbonisation project recently being granted planning permission. Equinor’s H2H Saltend is a 600 MW low carbon hydrogen production plant with carbon capture, one of the first of its kind and scale to be granted planning permission in the UK, helping to establish the Humber as an international hub for low carbon hydrogen whilst significantly reducing carbon emissions. READ MORE

Excerpt from The Chemical Engineer: The plant will run on green hydrogen and biogenic CO2, which involves the combustion of biogas collected from waste. READ MORE

Excerpt from Aerospace Global News: SAF startup OXCCU has opened its first official demonstration plant, OX1, at the UK’s Oxford Airport; expected to commence operations in September 2024.

The facility will be the first of its kind in the world to demonstrate “the direct conversion of CO2 and H2 to jet fuel range hydrocarbons in a single step with minimal oxygenated byproducts using OXCCU’s novel catalyst” and will initially produce around 1kg of liquid OXEFUEL fuel per day.

Unlike other players in the power-to-liquid (PtL) SAF sector, University of Oxford climate tech spin-out OXCCU utilises a patented single-step process to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into long-chain hydrocarbons, offering “significantly lower capital and operational costs than other PtL SAF pathways”.

As OXCCU subsequently scales, the first plant will provide data to inform the design and build of a second 160kg per day OX2 facility, which will operate at Saltend Chemical Park, Hull, from 2026. Commercial-scale ventures will then follow.

“The fuel we’ve already made in a single step from CO2 in the lab has created great excitement with its potential to massively reduce the cost of SAF, but the scale up is key, and this plant will generate the data and litres of fuel we need,” explained OXCCU CEO Andrew Symes. Citing cost-effective PtL as an essential element of enabling “future generations to fly without a climate impact,” he concluded: “This launch marks a key step in achieving that goal”. READ MORE