LanzaTech (Skokie, Ill.) has announced that its Project DRAGON, which stands for Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal Of Netzero, will undertake the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of a facility in Port Talbot, South Wales, that will produce over 100 million liters per year of ATJ Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (ATJ-SPK). The feedstock for the facility will be waste-based, low carbon ethanol, procured from a variety of waste sources, and the facility will have the ability to also use ethanol produced from local steel mill waste gases via LanzaTech’s gas fermentation platform.
The ATJ-SPK produced will provide >70% GHG emission savings versus traditional jet fuel. Using a 30% blend target, the 100 million liters of ATJ-SPK will yield about 330 million liters per year of blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This will be used by UK-based airlines, including British Airways, and longtime partner, Virgin Atlantic. In October 2018, the first batch of LanzaTech jet fuel, made by recycling waste industrial gases, was used on a Virgin Atlantic commercial flight from Orlando to London Gatwick.
This facility will be the UK’s first commercial-scale project to implement the LanzaJetTM Alcohol-To-Jet (ATJ) technology. Commercialisation of ATJ has been years in the making, starting with the partnership between LanzaTech (which launched LanzaJet in June 2020) and the U.S Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The development will support significant jobs in the region and the facility will undergo certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, globally recognized as the most robust approach to sustainability for the bio-based and circular economy, a reflection of LanzaTech’s longstanding partnership with the RSB and commitment to certification across the supply chain.
“Aviation will be central to our future growth and plans to build back greener from the pandemic, which is why we have invested over £20 million in the past year to decarbonize the sector in line with our world-leading net-zero targets,” said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
“The GFGS Competition is critical to scaling the delivery of sustainable fuels to the aviation industry,” said Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech CEO. “We have a real opportunity to help the aviation industry, create jobs, and show the world what is possible by working together. I can’t thank the Department of Transportation enough for its support.”
Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic said: “We are delighted to hear the news that our Sustainable Aviation Fuels partner LanzaTech has been shortlisted for funding as part of the GFGS program. This feels an important and continued step forward in the Government recognizing the importance of waste-based feedstocks to the development of a UK production capability. This is key for UK-based airlines such as Virgin Atlantic and we look forward to continuing to work with LanzaTech on their development work for a facility in Port Talbot.”
British Airways has invested in LanzaJet’s first commercial scale Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia, USA and will acquire sustainable aviation fuel from the plant to power a number of its flights by the end of 2022. The partnership will involve LanzaJet implementing early-stage planning and design for a potential commercial facility for British Airways in the UK.
Sean Doyle, British Airways Chairman and CEO, said: “We’re determined to transform the sustainability of our industry and this potential funding from the Government’s Green Fuels, Green Skies competition is critical in helping us to show the feasibility of building sustainable aviation fuel plants. These plants would be a game-changer for our industry, not only delivering sustainable aviation fuel, but also creating many hundreds of highly skilled jobs while increasing economic growth around the UK. Our parent company, IAG, was the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 per cent of flights with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030 – purchasing one million tons of SAF each year, equivalent to taking a million cars off Europe’s roads every year. We look forward to pushing forward with this project, which is one of many we’re working on as we head towards our target to decarbonize and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Stewart Wingate, CEO, Gatwick Airport, said: “We welcome the news that LanzaTech’s innovative Sustainable Aviation Fuel technology using waste-based, low carbon feedstocks and recycled carbon gases is among the successful shortlisted bidders in the UK Green Fuels Green Skies competition. Ensuring commercial production and supply of SAF in the UK by 2025 is a vital part of the Government and industry roadmaps for net zero UK aviation, and this is another key step forward. We look forward to working with LanzaTech to support the next stage of their SAF projects in the UK.”
Chris Williams, Head of Industrial Decarbonization, Industry Wales said: “Developing the supply chain for a technology that not only creates sustainable aviation fuels, to help decarbonization the aviation sector, at the same time as it decarbonizes our existing heavy industries, is a hugely exciting opportunity for the South Wales Industrial Cluster. This is a fantastic example of an innovative technology that is developing a novel cross sector solution to support the UK reach its net zero target.”
Elena Schmidt, Executive Director of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), a globally recognised sustainability system for the bio-based and circular economy, welcomed the announcement by saying, “Ensuring that new technologies that are being harnessed to combat the climate crisis are truly sustainable and don’t cause unintended harm to communities and the environment is absolutely vital. This is why we are so pleased to see Project DRAGON closer to taking flight in the UK: LanzaTech has demonstrated their commitment to the best-in-class sustainability outlined in the RSB Standard since day one. On behalf of the RSB, I am pleased to congratulate the team at LanzaTech on being shortlisted for this award. We look forward to working closely with them to ensure that their stakeholders have the assurance that this new facility and its supply chains meet the robust requirements of the RSB sustainability standard.”