Plans revealed for sustainable jet fuel production facility in Port Talbot

The Government awarded LanzaTech almost £25 million to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility in Port Talbot back in December 2022.

Now the company has announced details of its plans for Wales’ first carbon recycling facilities in and around Port Talbot that would transform emissions into Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

The pioneering ‘Project Dragon’ aims to reduce emissions from industry and help facilitate lower emission flying.

LanzaTech is initially seeking planning permission for a ground-breaking commercial scale Alcohol-to-Jet facility that would supply around 1% of the UK’s jet fuel needs.

The facility is expected to convert sustainable ethanol, via the LanzaJet™ Alcohol-to-Jet Process™, into sustainable aviation fuel which can reduce the climate impact of flying by more than 70%.

To produce the ethanol for the Alcohol-to-Jet plant, a second facility is planned which uses a naturally occurring organism that transforms greenhouse gases to ethanol as part of its natural life cycle.

The company says that with a World Health Organization Risk Group Rating the same as baker’s yeast, this nature-based solution creates valuable raw materials that would otherwise come from virgin fossil inputs.

It adds that the details of this second facility would be progressed through a separate planning application when the location is confirmed.

Aviation is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise and, to accelerate the project, LanzaTech has received £25 million of support from the Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund. Subject to planning permission, construction of the Alcohol-to-Jet facility is expected to begin in 2025 with production starting in 2026/7.

Remarking on this news, Jim Woodger, LanzaTech UK Ltd. Managing Director, said, “LanzaTech is thrilled to announce its plans to transform derelict land in Port Talbot into the site for Wales first sustainable aviation fuel production. The rich industrial heritage of the region will be maintained through new innovative technologies like these which transform industrial waste gases into valuable products and create long-term, skilled jobs.”

LanzaTech says it will be sharing further details of its plans for the Alcohol-to-Jet facility as these develop in the coming months, and are keen to receive feedback from members of the local Port Talbot community including through a new project website which launched today at www.lanzadragon.wales.

The company says a full planning application for the Alcohol-to-Jet facility is being prepared and will be submitted later this year. A location for the second facility converting wastes to sustainable ethanol is still being identified. Once this is finalised a second planning application will be submitted.

Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, added, “We are delighted to see LanzaTech’s project progress within the wider South Wales Industrial Cluster. Together with the successful Celtic Freeport bid and the shortlisting of Hanson’s capture and storage project in North Wales, Industry is now creating skilled, long-term and green jobs in Wales.”

LanzaTech’s announcement coincides with the release of a new roadmap for net zero aviation by Sustainable Aviation. The report identifies sustainable aviation fuels as the key immediate opportunity to reduce aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions and as playing a major role in reaching net-zero aviation by 2050. The roadmap is being released at a major conference and exhibition on zero emission aviation at Farnborough

(Lead image: Getty / LanzaTech)