Firefly CEO welcomes historic Virgin SAF flight

Firefly, which makes sustainable aviation fuel out of sewage, has gained £5 million (€6.3 million) in funding and an order of up to 525,000 tonnes of fuel from ultra-low cost airline Wizz Air.
The company previously received £2 million (€2.3 million) funding from the UK’s Department for Transport to help accelerate its commercialisation.
A serial entrepreneur, Hygate is also founder of Green Fuels which, over a period of 20 years, has pioneered waste to biofuel technology.
The business was granted a Royal Warrant for its supply of sustainable fuel to HRH Prince of Wales, now HM King Charles III.
Green Fuels has helped its customers reduce their carbon emissions by an estimated 6.5 million tonnes.
James Hygate is founder and CEO of Firefly, has also welcomed news of Virgin airlines historic flight to New York using 100% sustainable aviation fuel.
He said: “It’s good to see a fully sustainable flight take off as it underlines the fact that it’s perfectly possible to fly planes without using fossil fuels.
“The big issue for industry is creating enough sustainable aviation fuel. We believe the best approach is through converting waste into fuels and there is great potential in this approach.
“Across the world, human beings create millions of tonnes of sewage every single day. This presents a massive pollution issue which needs to be dealt with.
“Yet this problem can be turned into an opportunity because processed sewage contains valuable properties, which means it can be converted into fuel. In fact, sewage can be converted into jet fuel and this would make flying a far more sustainable form of transport.”