£2.5m of Government funding awarded Essar Energy Transition to develop a sustainable aviation fuel hub close to the River Mersey. Tony McDonough reports
Fuels giant Essar Energy Transition (EET) is to develop one of the UK’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production hubs close to the River Mersey.
EET operates the second-largest oil refinery in the UK at Stanlow in Ellesmere Port. It already supplies conventional jet fuel via either road or pipeline to 10 UK airports including Liverpool and Manchester.
SAF is jet fuel produced from a variety of sources including household waste, used cooking oil as well as forestry and agricultural waste. Because it is a ‘drop-in fuel’ it means it can be blended with conventional jet fuel without any modifications.
Powering aircraft is one of the big conundrums of the push towards cutting CO2 emissions. A commercial airliner requires significant power to take off and travel long distances.
There have been trials using both batteries and hydrogen but so far these have proven challenging. SAF is currently seen as the best way to keep flying but reduce emissions.
It is claimed SAF can reduce emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel although critics say it simply shifts some of those emissions to other parts of the supply chain. SAF is also more expensive.
EET has secured £2.5m from the Government to establish an SAF hub at Stanlow. It plans to use methanol-to-jet technology to convert renewable e-methanol and bio-methanol into SAF. Stanlow is also the nerve centre for the multi-billion pound HyNet hydrogen project.
Leveraging Stanlow Terminals existing import infrastructure enables access to low carbon intensity methanol feedstocks. SAF will be blended on-site with EET Fuels’ existing jet fuel production to directly supply UK airports.
This hub will have the capacity to produce 200,000 tonnes a year if SAF, using 550,000 tonnes of renewable e-methanol and bio-methanol sourced domestically in the UK and from its sister company – Essar Future Energies – in Gujarat, India.
The Department for Transport has offered the funding from its £63m Advanced Fuels Fund. EET can now advance to the pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) stage. It is targeting completion of pre-FEED by March 2026, with full FEED commencing in Q2 2026 and final investment decision by the end of 2027.
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Tony Fountain, managing director at EET, said: “We welcome the UK Government’s support, which enables us to carry out a detailed FEED process and accelerate this flagship UK advanced sustainable aviation fuels project towards final investment decision.
“At Stanlow, we have major decarbonisation ambitions, aiming to become a leading energy transition hub and home to the world’s first low-carbon process refinery.
“Domestic advanced SAF production is central to our long-term vision and a key catalyst for decarbonising aviation.”