British Airways receives batch of SAF made from “waste oils” from Phillips 66
British Airways says it has received its first batch of “sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF) after it launched into a multi-year agreement with Phillips 66 Humber Refinery. Phillips 66 say the y can produce the fuel at “commercial scale.” BA is hoping to be able to get SAF at significant scale, to say it is cutting its carbon emissions – while continuing to fly ever more planes and flights. The parent company of BA, IAG, says it hoped to power 10% of flights with SAF by 2030. There is lots of hype about jobs etc. and that Phillips 66 has invested £20 million in the fuel production complex. Phillips 66 are (as usual for these fuels and ventures) coy about saying what the fuel is actually made from, except that it is from “waste oils”, but say they are “currently refining almost half a million litres of sustainable waste feedstocks a day, and this is just a start.” Fuel can be pumped from the Humber down to Heathrow. IAG is investing $400 million over the next 20 years into the development of SAF. As well as Phillips 66, IAG is hoping to get fuel from the planned Altalto Immingham refinery (using plastic waste) which is not yet even built. The concern is if the jet fuels produced contain any palm oil, or its derivatives, or other plant oils, that compete with food production and increase habitat destruction.
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Green jet fuel takes off for British Airways as first supplies received from Humber refinery
Phillips 66 has invested £20m at leading European plant at South Killingholme
By David Laister Business Editor (Humber) – Business Live
28 MAR 2022
British Airways has received its first batch of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) after it launched into a multi-year agreement with Phillips 66 Humber Refinery.
The UK flag carrier becomes the first airline in the world to start using the blend – produced from the likes of used cooking oil – at commercial scale in the country.
British Airways has described it as a significant milestone on the route to Net Zero.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ chair and chief executive, said: “Being the first airline to source sustainable aviation fuel produced at commercial scale in the UK is another breakthrough moment for us and the airline industry.
“Our supplies of SAF from Phillips 66 Ltd will allow us to progress with our ambitious roadmap to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner and will play a role in our commitment, as part of International Airlines Group, to power 10 per cent of flights with SAF by 2030.
“Progressing the development and commercial scale up of sustainable aviation fuel will be a game changer and crucial to reducing the aviation sector’s reliance on fossil fuels and improving the UK’s energy supply resilience. I’m confident that Britain can take a leading role on the global stage in this space, creating green jobs and export opportunities, if industry, developers and Government continue to collaborate and make it a key focus area.”
Phillips 66 has invested £20 million in the complex South Killingholme plant to enable the supply.
£20 million has been invested by Phillips 66 to bring forward sustainable aviation fuel refining at Humber Refinery. Pictured is general manager and lead UK executive Darren Cunningham and a British Airways crew led by Sean Doyle, chair and chief executive.
Darren Cunningham, lead UK executive and Humber Refinery general manager, said: “Phillips 66 Humber Refinery is proud to supply British Airways with sustainable aviation fuel.
“We were the first in the UK to co-process waste oils to produce renewable fuels and now we will be the first to produce SAF at scale. We’re currently refining almost half a million litres of sustainable waste feedstocks a day, and this is just a start.
“The strategic collaboration and supply agreement confirm each companies’ commitment to a lower carbon future. The production of SAF is just one of a number of decarbonisation projects we are currently progressing, and we are excited by the role that we play in supplying the UK with the fuels it needs, both now and in the future.”
The deal was agreed in December, with the fuel piped down to Heathrow Airport using existing infrastructure.
The sustainable aviation fuel bought by the airline will be enough to reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by almost 100,000 tonnes, enough to clean up 700 Boeing 787 flights between London and New York.
The milestone has been welcomed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, with both companies in support of Government plans for a future SAF mandate and a business model for investing in advanced waste to jet fuel projects through participation in the Department for Transport’s Jet Zero Council Delivery Group.
Mr Shapps said: “It’s great to see British Airways is the first airline in the world that started using sustainable aviation fuel produced at scale in the UK – an important milestone towards our ambitious Jet Zero targets.
“The fact it’s being produced here in the UK is a perfect demonstration how Britain continues to be a pioneer in developing green aviation technology and the Government will meet its 2050 net zero target.
“We can create thousands of green jobs while reducing the impact that flying has on the environment, so we can continue to connect and travel in a greener way.”
BA also continues to work with Government on ways to provide certainty for investors to help the UK be a leader in SAF production.
Parent company International Airlines Group is investing $400 million over the next 20 years into the development of SAF.
One established partnership is with Velocys, also on the South Humber Bank, for a dedicated refinery – Altalto Immingham – with major investment strides made just last week. [Not even started yet].
Mike Wailes, Phillips 66’s European strategy manager added: “The supply of the first batch of UK produced sustainable aviation fuel, from the Humber Refinery to British Airways is a proud moment for Phillips 66. Leveraging an existing world-class asset to produce SAF at a commercial scale today is consistent with our work, across a number of pathways, to transition to a lower carbon future.”
The refinery also produces vital materials for electric vehicle battery manufacturing, and has just committed significant investment to hydrogen fuel-switching for vital processes.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/green-jet-fuel-takes-british-23519291
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Phillps 66
On being a sustainable producer of immense amounts of fossil fuels …
“Our Humber Refinery is one of the most energy efficient refineries in Europe and is leading the way in lower-carbon fuels production. Our Humber Refinery was the first in the UK to produce high-performing, advanced second generation biofuels, at scale, from waste – when Used Cooking Oil (UCO) was introduced to its refining processes in 2017. In 2020, Phillips 66 Limited invested significantly trebling this capacity, with the addition of a new lower carbon fuel module. ….”
https://www.phillips66.com/uk/sustainability-overview
Note: There really is NOT enough genuine “used cooking oil”, not being used by other sectors, to even dent the demand for jet fuel. It is a brilliant bit of greenwashing …. AW.
See earlier:
Unconvincing airline hype about large future use of so called “sustainable aviation fuels”
Airlines are falling over each other, to say how much “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF) they plan to use in future, and how this will greatly increase their carbon emissions. Ryanair says it will use 12.5% SAF by 2030; IAG says it will use 10% by 2030; easyJet says they will use SAF in the short term, but “we must avoid all resources being drawn into SAFs, which don’t fully solve the problem.” According to the European Commission, SAF currently accounts for just 0.05% of jet fuel use in the EU, and without further regulation, the share is expected to reach just 2.8% by 2050. There is disagreement between low cost, short haul airlines and those flying longer routes, about whether SAF fuel quotas should apply to all flights, not only short haul. Long-haul air services departing European airports accounted for 48% of CO2 emissions from all operations in 2019, while making up just 6% of flights, according to Eurocontrol data. It is unclear what all this SAF is going to be made from. One of the very few fuels thought to genuinely be low carbon, up to now, has been used cooking oil. But it has been revealed that there is considerable fraud, with virgin palm oil (causing deforestation) being passed off as used.
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Hopes of “sustainable jet fuel” from waste are always just around the corner, for British Airways
British Airways (not much to do at present …) says it “will operate transatlantic flights partially powered by sustainable fuels as early as 2022”. BA says it will invest in a new US plant to be built in Georgia by LanzaJet producing commercial-scale volumes of “sustainable” aviation fuel (SAF), made from ethanol derived from agricultural and other waste. It claims this would “create 70% less carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel.” It will actually produce tiny amounts of fuel. IAG says it will invest almost £300m in SAF as part of its pledge to decarbonise by 2050 (while increasing numbers of passengers and flights!), and would investigate building a refinery with LanzaTech in the UK. BA is also involved in a domestic- waste-to-fuel plant in partnership with Velocys, in Immingham, Humberside, that Shell pulled out of in January. Sean Doyle, of BA, said (they always want public funds to help produce alternative fuels for planes) “We need government support” for this. BA and LanzaTech are part of the Jet Zero Council, launched to some fanfare by Boris Johnson in July 2020; it has not met since then.
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Shell pulls out of UK joint venture with BA and Velocys to produce “low carbon” jetfuel
Shell has pulled out of the joint Altalto venture with British Airways and Velocys to build a plant in Immingham, Humberside to make “sustainable jet fuels from non-recyclable household waste. There has been a lot of hype about novel fuels for aviation, and how they will help reduce the CO2 emissions from flights slightly – even while the sector stays the same size or grows. Shell will instead join a more lucrative fuels project in Canada, which plans to produce fuel more efficiently (using a better source of waste – as they include wood “waste”). The Altalto projects hopes to be producing jet fuel within 5 years. The existence of the Humberside plant enabled Boris to claim Britain would be in the forefront of low carbon fuels etc (Britain always has to be on top …) Producing standard, high quality jet fuel from highly variable domestic waste is difficult. Other projects have not been a success. In 2017 the fuel project in Essex by Solena, to produce fuel for British Airways, was scrapped as Solena went bankrupt (presumably before producing any fuel). While the Canadian scheme plans to use over 200,000 tonnes of non-recyclable and wood waste annually to produce nearly 125m litres of fuel, the UK Altalto project would use 500,000 tonnes of waste to make 60m litres.
Click here to view full story…
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