Government grants £27m for Immingham plant turning waste to aeroplane fuel

A sustainable fuels technology company has been awarded £27 million by the government for a scheme that turns everyday waste into aeroplane fuel at a base in Immingham.

Velocys PLC received the grant from the Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund, developed under an existing agreement between Velocys and British Airways to deliver a commercial waste-to-sustainable aviation fuel plant in Immingham, North East Lincolnshire.

It is hoped that the new plant will produce up to 300,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel per year – as the government opt for the deployment of fuel production technologies that are capable of reducing carbon emissions within aviation.

The firm has also received a separate Department for Transport grant of £2.5 million to contribute to the technology needed on e-fuels projects in the UK.

According to reports, operations are likely to begin in 2028 and the government has stated it would like to have at least five of these waste-to-fuel plants under construction across the UK by 2025.

Funding will allow for the front-end engineering design phase of the build to be delivered. | Photo: Velocys

The Immingham plant, which is expected to be the first of its kind in Europe, will serve as part of a wider £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund, supporting the development of commercial SAF plants at an advanced stage and kick-starting a sustainable advanced fuel sector in the country.

Councillor Philip Jackson, leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, said:“I’m really pleased to see this announcement for the project. We have been working with Velocys for several years now – investment on this scale will always take a significant length of time, but this will allow the plans to progress to the next stage.

“We have been working to make North East Lincolnshire a top competitor for green energy investment decisions, and we have grown our credentials, both onshore and offshore, greatly in the last few years.

“We will continue to work with Velocys to land this important project, and help create local jobs for local people.”

Henrik Wareborn, Velocys CEO, said: “We are encouraged to see that the UK Government is taking seriously the urgent need to transition to lower carbon travel and transport, with its stated ambition of having at least five commercial scale SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025.

“Velocys’ IP protected technology provides a pathway to large-scale production of SAF, which is an essential element for achieving net-zero-carbon air travel.”