Sustainable aviation gasoline – lanzajet and companions ‘challenge speedbird’ wins $11,2M authorities funding, serving to to maneuver aviation business nearer to international decarbonization targets.
Challenge Speedbird – a joint partnership between LanzaJet, British Airways (BA), and Nova Pangaea Applied sciences (NPT) – has secured new funding totalling $11.2M (£9 million) from the Authorities’s Superior Fuels Fund (AFF) competitors.
LanzaJet, the world’s main ethanol to Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF) expertise firm and sustainable fuels producer, and NPT, a UK-based cleantech firm growing superior biofuels used to provide SAF, will obtain the funding to extend international SAF manufacturing and decarbonize the aviation business.
It follows the multi-million-pound investments from Worldwide Airways Group (IAG) and British Airways earlier this yr into NPT and Challenge Speedbird, respectively. IAG – British Airways’ mother or father firm – can also be a founding investor and shareholder of LanzaJet courting again to 2021.
Technological innovation
The SAF can be developed utilizing a mixture of NPT’s progressive expertise, which converts agricultural waste and wooden residue feedstocks into second-generation biofuels equivalent to ethanol, and LanzaJet’s proprietary expertise that converts ethanol into SAF.
The NPT ethanol can be initially processed into SAF by LanzaJet’s Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) plant in Soperton, Georgia – the primary of its type on the earth – previous to Challenge Speedbird’s personal bigger ATJ facility, deliberate to be constructed within the UK by 2027. British Airways is intending to buy all of the SAF produced by Challenge Speedbird to assist energy a few of its flights.
Challenge Speedbird will produce 27 million gallons (102 million liters) of SAF per yr, which is able to cut back CO2 emissions, on a web lifecycle foundation, by 230,000 tons per yr, the equal of roughly 26,000 British Airways home flights.*
Challenge Speedbird will produce SAF at full capability by 2028, supporting progress in direction of the UK’s SAF mandate which would require not less than 10% of jet gasoline utilized by airways to be constructed from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.
Jimmy Samartzis, Chief Govt Officer at LanzaJet, stated:
The aviation business has set formidable and crucial targets to deal with the urgency of local weather change, and this subsequent era of sustainable aviation fuels can be vital to assembly the business’s targets.
“Challenge Speedbird is an amazing instance of what it takes to scale the business and meet this second. Authorities assist like that is vital in facilitating that development and we’re thrilled to be working with distinctive companions like Nova Pangaea Applied sciences and British Airways – ensuring these targets develop into actuality.”
Sarah Ellerby, Chief Govt of Nova Pangaea Applied sciences, stated:
“Nova Pangaea Applied sciences are delighted to have secured this multi-million-pound funding.
“With assist from the Authorities, and in partnership with British Airways and LanzaJet, we are able to now speed up our subsequent part of improvement and the commercialization of our expertise, to assist take the UK one step nearer to changing into a world chief in SAF.
“Our first commercial-scale manufacturing facility would be the first of its type within the UK, and can use wooden residues and non-food derived agricultural waste as its feedstocks. Our partnership, Challenge Speedbird, will play a transformational position in decarbonizing the aviation sector, in addition to offering native employment alternatives within the North East.”
Carrie Harris, Director of Sustainability at British Airways, stated:
Sustainable aviation gasoline will play a vital position in assembly our web zero targets and is at the moment the one practical low carbon resolution for long-haul flights, so it’s important that we proceed to take a position and develop SAF expertise to be able to create sufficient provide.
“We welcome the federal government’s funding and continued assist in Challenge Speedbird which represents landmark new expertise for UK SAF provide. The UK has the potential to develop into a pacesetter within the manufacturing of SAF, and this pioneering challenge is one step nearer to this changing into a actuality and a giant second for British Airways and UK SAF manufacturing extra typically.”
ABOUT LANZAJET
LanzaJet is a number one sustainable fuels expertise firm devoted to accelerating the power transition.
As a Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF) expertise supplier and producer with our patented LanzaJet® Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) expertise, LanzaJet is creating a possibility for future generations by accelerating the deployment of SAF and different clear applied sciences vital to addressing the local weather disaster and remodeling the worldwide economic system. Additional info is offered at https://www.lanzajet.com/
ABOUT BRITISH AIRWAYS
British Airways was a part of the primary airline group to decide to reaching web zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The airline is dedicated to reaching web zero carbon emissions by a sequence of brief, medium- and long-term initiatives.
Within the short-term this contains bettering operational effectivity, introducing new gasoline environment friendly plane and progressively introducing sustainable aviation fuels utilizing waste feedstocks, whereas within the medium to long term this contains persevering with to put money into the event and scale up of sustainable aviation gasoline and taking a look at accelerating the expansion of latest applied sciences equivalent to zero emissions hydrogen-powered plane and carbon seize expertise.
Extra particulars on British Airways’ sustainability programme, BA Higher World will be discovered right here.
ABOUT NOVA PANGAEA TECHNOLOGIES
Nova Pangaea Applied sciences (NPT) is a cleantech firm that has created a revolutionary course of, changing wooden residues and agricultural waste into superior biofuels and biochar, a few of that are then used to provide Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF), a vital device within the effort to decarbonise flight.
Primarily based in Teesside, NPT has gained important momentum in recent times, securing hundreds of thousands of kilos price of personal funding and public funding. NPTs progressive REFNOVA course of additionally produces the co-product biochar, a pure carbon sink which can be utilized as soil enhancement.
Development at NOVAONE, NPTs commercial-scale manufacturing website, is predicted to start by the top of 2023, and the ability is because of be producing fuels by 2025. The event is about to create main employment alternatives, supporting the decarbonisation of the aviation business, and serving to the UK meet its wider web zero targets.
In regards to the Superior Fuels Fund (AFF)
The UK Authorities’s October 2021 Internet Zero Technique laid out a dedication to:
“Change into a pacesetter in zero-emission flight, kick-starting commercialisation of UK sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) … to allow the supply of 10% SAF by 2030”
The UK Authorities has since introduced its dedication of getting not less than 5 business scale SAF vegetation below building within the UK by 2025.
To assist these goals, the Superior Fuels Fund was launched on 19 July 2022 by the Division for Transport (DfT). The Superior Fuels Fund has competitively allotted £135 million in grant funding to assist UK superior fuels tasks till 31 March 2025. The most recent announcement is the second tranche in funding.
LANZAJET, BRITISH AIRWAYS, AND NOVA PANGAEA TECHNOLOGIES’ ‘PROJECT SPEEDBIRD’ WINS $11.2M GOVERNMENT FUNDING, HELPING TO MOVE AVIATION INDUSTRY CLOSER TO GLOBAL DECARBONIZATION GOALS, CHICAGO, Nov. 20, 2023
