Nearly $6.5 Million Will Fund The Next Stage Of The Program

Funding totalling £4.9 million (approx $6.5 million) has been secured by renewable fuels company Velocys for the next development phase of the waste-to-sustainable jet fuel project that the company is developing in the UK. As part of the funding package a grant of £434,000 (approx. $575,000) has been secured from the Department for Transport (DfT) under the Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C).

The award of this grant, together with ongoing policy support provided by the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, will help this innovative waste-to-fuels project bring jobs and clean growth to the UK. The project is being developed with the financial and technical support of Shell and British Airways.

The Initial feasibility stage of project development successfully completed. The next stage is to include detailed pre-FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) engineering study and site permitting activities, fully funded by a combination of the F4C grant and £4.5 million (approx. $5.96 million) committed by the industry partners including Velocys.

Velocys will continue to lead the project and has committed £1.5 million (approx. $2 million) to this next development phase, a significant proportion of which is in the form of an in-kind contribution. The next stage of the project will be developed by Velocys, Shell and British Airways.

The team is developing the engineering and business case for the construction of a first plant in the UK. Subject to a final investment decision, this plant will take hundreds of thousands of tonnes per year of post-recycled waste, destined for landfill or incineration, and convert it into clean-burning, sustainable fuels. The jet fuel produced, to be used by British Airways, is expected to deliver over 70% greenhouse gas reduction and 90% reduction in particulate matter emissions compared with conventional jet fuel. This would contribute to both carbon emissions reductions and local air quality improvements around major airports. The project partners expect to reach a final investment decision in the first half of 2020.

"Successful funding of this next development phase further demonstrates the strength of Velocys’ renewable fuels business. Today the UK has taken another step forward towards becoming a world leader in low carbon aviation," said David Pummell, CEO of Velocys. "Government funding, recent policy changes and successful completion of the feasibility study have enabled Velocys and its partners to move forward to the next phase in developing the UK’s first waste-to-renewable jet fuel plant. With Shell and British Airways we have a terrific set of partners to complete the project.”

"The waste-to-jet fuel project has the potential to help transform the aviation industry by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the air quality around our country’s airports," said Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Transport. “That is why we are providing support to this important technology as part of our £22 million (approx $29 million) of funding for alternative fuels, which will pave the way for clean growth in the UK.

“Supporting important developments like this is just part of our work to help ensure our aviation sector is greener than ever, and we will explore further measures as part of our Aviation Strategy.”

(Source: Velocys news release)

FMI: www.velocys.com