Project Speedbird: BA and LanzaJet select site for domestic SAF production
Sustainable aviation fuel producer LanzaJet is to collaborate with British Airways to build the UK’s first scaled ethanol-to-SAF production plant, with Teeside announced as the location for the upcoming ‘Project Speedbird’ facility; previously indicated to be operational as soon as 2028.
With a recent UK SAF mandate having come into force at the start of this year (requiring 2% of total jet fuel to be SAF, a number rising to 10% in 2030 and 22% in 2040), upping production of the fuel has perhaps never been so pressing an issue – especially with the government outlining its “ambitious commitment of having at least five commercial SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025”.
Now, US-based sustainable fuel producer LanzaJet is to bring its proprietary alcohol-to-jet technology to the UK; employing the power-to-liquid (PtL) production pathway pioneered at its Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia (the world’s first commercial ethanol-to-SAF production plant). LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis explained that the Wilton International location was selected for its “strategic location and advanced infrastructure,” underscoring the Teeside region’s “pivotal role in the UK’s energy transition”.
With the Teeside plant to produce SAF from “sustainably sourced ethanol,” when operational, the fuel produced is expected to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 230,000 tonnes a year; equivalent to 26,000 BA UK domestic flights. In November 2023, LanzaJet indicated that “British Airways is intending to purchase all the SAF produced through Project Speedbird”.
In January 2024, Project Speedbird received over £9 million in funding from the UK government’s Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) to develop a commercial-scale plant at Teesside, north east England. In December 2023, LanzaJet indicated that the plant would be complete by 2027, and running at full operational capacity by 2028.
