Advanced SAF technology in Teesside

The aviation industry is one of the vital arteries that keeps the global economy ticking, but as a major source of carbon emissions it comes at a significant cost to the planet.
Current projections estimate that demand for air passenger journeys could exceed 16 billion by 2050, placing further strain on a sector which is facing constant scrutiny, so it is essential to find green solutions to reduce its environmental impact.
Alfanar’s project in north-east England is one way to achieve that goal.
Known as the Lighthouse Green Fuels project, Alfanar is currently developing a £1.5 billion (€1.8 billion) waste-to-sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility in Billingham, Teesside, which will be the largest and most technically advanced facility of its kind in Europe.
Planned to commence operations by 2028, the facility will process around 1 million tons of non-recyclable waste and waste biomass feedstock each year. The feedstock will then be transformed into over 165 million litres of second-generation SAF which will be used to fuel aircraft throughout the UK every year.
Put into context, this is the annual equivalent to 25,000 short-haul flights to Europe and would avoid approximately 750,000 tons of CO2.
The Lighthouse Green Fuels project is currently progressing through the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase of development and has the benefit of several established utility connections, including a UK National Grid connection.
Once completed, this state-of-the art facility will help support the UK government in reaching its net-zero ambition by 2050 as well as facilitating the UK aviation sector to become a global leader in clean energy.

New opportunities

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK’s aviation sector contributed around £22 billion (€26.5 billion) to its annual GDP and directly employed at least 230,000 people.
However, the UK government acknowledges that the aviation industry will have to undergo significant changes in the coming years to improve its energy security as a nation, including developing innovative green initiatives.

To achieve this, the UK’s net-zero transition is seeking unique opportunities to create new jobs, industries and technologies across its entire aviation sector whilst also committing to decarbonizing air travel.
Rising to the challenge, Alfanar’s Lighthouse Green Fuels project will complement the UK’s ambitious vision for future growth by creating over 1,000 well-paid jobs during the construction phase of the Billingham site, and a further 240 full-time jobs once fully operational, the highest number of jobs for a project of this kind in Europe.
Additionally, Alfanar will implement a series of apprenticeship schemes to support staffing requirements for the next 25 years of the project’s operations, helping to champion the potential of the local community’s highly skilled workforce and anchoring the region through various supply chains.
This, in turn, will attract significant further investment into the region and propel Teesside, and the UK, to become a European leader in the production of SAF.

A commitment to cleaner air travel

The UK has the third largest aviation network in the world, following the US and China, and is perfectly positioned to become a world-class leader in decarbonisation. However, for this to happen, the sector requires the rapid development of SAF technologies while also delivering strong economic benefits.
As part of its net-zero vision, the UK government announced a new strategy for the aviation industry in 2022. Known as the Jet Zero Strategy, it sets out the nation’s vision to decarbonise the entire aviation landscape by 2050 while maximising the opportunities that sustainable energy can bring to the UK.
Simply put, the goal is for quicker, quieter and cleaner air travel for the benefit of those who use and are affected by UK airspace.
Although SAF is only currently used in 0.1% of airline flights globally, production and demand are growing at a rapid rate.
Last year, the worldwide production of SAF reached 300 million litres – an impressive 200% increase on 2021’s levels.
Even so, to offset 65% of fossil-derived jet fuel, production will need to increase to 450 billion litres by 2050, simultaneously representing a golden opportunity for production partners but also a major challenge.
For instance, by 2025 the UK is committed to having at least five SAF plants under construction and a mandate in place with a target for SAF to represent 10% of the aviation fuel mix by 2030.
Alfanar’s Billingham site represents one of those five identified SAF plants, with the Lighthouse Green Fuels project awarded funding from the Department for Transport’s Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) and Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) competitions in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The company is also leading the charge in innovation.
Its new facility in Teesside will not only be the biggest waste-to-SAF production plant in the world when fully operational, but the UK’s first negative emissions SAF project (subject to access to carbon capture infrastructure), and, therefore, a critical contributor to the UK government’s 2030 SAF targets.
For example, the facility’s annual reduction of CO2 emissions will be the equivalent of removing an incredible 350,000 petrol cars from UK roads for every year of its operations. This will certainly contribute to making the UK’s aviation sector more sustainable for decades to come.

Future solutions for a greener world

The global aviation sector is regularly criticised for its contribution to climate breakdown.
It currently depends heavily on climate-polluting fossil fuels, and with annual passenger traffic expected to soar to 435 million in the UK by 2050, it has the potential to become the world’s largest global CO2 emitter.
For this reason alone, the UK’s Jet Zero Strategy is designed to future-proof its aviation sector by reducing dependence on fossil energy so that passengers can enjoy guilt-free travel.
In doing so, it can also unlock the benefits of green technology initiatives such as the Lighthouse Green Fuels project and the wealth of new job opportunities that will come with it.
This is why Alfanar is proud to be part of the UK’s journey to cement itself as a leader in clean aviation.

For more information: Visit alfanar.com