OXCCU opens first-of-its-kind SAF demonstration plant at Oxford Airport
SAF startup OXCCU has opened its first official demonstration plant, OX1, at the UK’s Oxford Airport; expected to commence operations in September 2024.
The facility will be the first of its kind in the world to demonstrate “the direct conversion of CO2 and H2 to jet fuel range hydrocarbons in a single step with minimal oxygenated byproducts using OXCCU’s novel catalyst” and will initially produce around 1kg of liquid OXEFUEL fuel per day.
Unlike other players in the power-to-liquid (PtL) SAF sector, University of Oxford climate tech spin-out OXCCU utilises a patented single-step process to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into long-chain hydrocarbons, offering “significantly lower capital and operational costs than other PtL SAF pathways”.
As OXCCU subsequently scales, the first plant will provide data to inform the design and build of a second 160kg per day OX2 facility, which will operate at Saltend Chemical Park, Hull, from 2026. Commercial-scale ventures will then follow.
“The fuel we’ve already made in a single step from CO2 in the lab has created great excitement with its potential to massively reduce the cost of SAF, but the scale up is key, and this plant will generate the data and litres of fuel we need,” explained OXCCU CEO Andrew Symes. Citing cost-effective PtL as an essential element of enabling “future generations to fly without a climate impact,” he concluded: “This launch marks a key step in achieving that goal”.
