LanzaTech plans to produce sustainable aviation fuel in the Humber
LanzaTech is planning to build pioneering carbon recycling facilities to make green jet fuel in the Humber at the Saltend Chemical Park. The Project, called DRAGON (Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal Of Net-zero) Humber will produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) a drop-in replacement for the fossil kerosene that largely powers planes today. Fossil kerosene is largely imported into the UK.
SAF helps to achieve greener flying, strengthens domestic fuel supply, creates jobs and improves energy security. The DRAGON Humber facility will produce around 1% of the UK’s jet fuel needs. Building on the Humber regions industrial strength in chemicals, LanzaTech’s proposals are critical to delivering sustainable economic growth and high quality jobs.
About LanzaTech
LanzaTech is a USA headquartered company with around 200 staff globally. Project DRAGON Humber is being delivered by its UK business, LanzaTech UK Ltd. LanzaTech has developed two technologies that we are integrating to produce SAF. In Humber, LanzaTech will be building an Alcohol to Jet production facility at the Saltend Chemical Park. This converts sustainably produced ethanol into SAF.
The ethanol feedstock will be produced by LanzaTech through a process called Gas Fermentation facilities and shipped to the Humber site. The Gas Fermentation process recycles waste carbon emissions from industrial processes. These would usually be flared, or burned to make power. The technology is like retrofitting a brewery onto an emission source like a steel mill or a landfill site, but instead of using sugars and yeast to make alcohol, waste carbon is converted by bacteria to ethanol. LanzaTech currently operates six industrial scale ethanol production facilities globally that we will use to supply the DRAGON Humber plant with ethanol feedstock to be converted to SAF.
LanzaTech also uses its ethanol to make a range of other products like fleeces, the soles of trainers, tee-shirts, perfume and even shampoo bottles all of which started life as emissions from an industrial facility. Further information about the remarkable 20+ year journey of LanzaTech from a small laboratory in New Zealand to a pioneering biotechnology company is available here.
The need for sustainable fuels
To try to tackle climate change the UK government has set legally binding targets to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The aviation industry is one of the most difficult sectors to reduce emissions, so the government now requires aviation fuel suppliers to steadily increase the amount of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) used in aircraft each year from 2025 to 2040. The DRAGON Humber project will supply UK produced SAF to help meet this target.
SAF can be used today without changes to existing aircraft engines (in blends of up to 50% alongside standard jet fuel), making it an immediate solution for the aviation industry to reduce its emissions. The SAF LanzaTech makes produces much less CO2 over its lifecycle than fossil kerosene and will typically save over 70% of the emissions of conventional fossil jet fuel. LanzaTech achieves this by capturing and recycling waste carbon, such as from industrial sites, that would otherwise be emitted as CO2 to the air and reusing this to make ethanol we turn into SAF.
The SAF made by LanzaTech reduces the creation of contrails (vapor trails) produced by aircraft which can also make a significant contribution to global warming.
The story so far
The UK Government requires by 2030 that 10% of the jet fuel used in UK aviation will be sustainable aviation fuel.
To accelerate this key project, LanzaTech has secured £25 million of funding from the Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund, highlighting that this is a critically important project to meet the UK’s climate goals.
What is proposed now?
During this time, around 300 high quality skilled jobs will be created with 50 permanent new roles on the site once it is in production in 2032, DRAGON Humber will make 80,000 tonnes of SAF (about 1% of UK jet fuel requirements) and produce 8,000 tonnes of renewable diesel annually as a byproduct. Construction is due to start in 2028 and be completed by 2031. During this time, around 300 high quality skilled jobs will be created with more than 50 permanent new roles on the site once it is in production.
LanzaTech has begun preparing a planning application with our consultants Turley. We are working closely with East Riding Council planning officers and will be engaging more widely on our plans with local residents as we make progress.
We are also undertaking work with Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to secure the environmental and safety permits that are required from the Environment Agency and Health and Safety Executive respectively. Further information on the proposals and upcoming consultation can be seen by clicking the link below.
