An Ellesmere Port company has been handed almost £17m towards its project to turn black bin bags into jet fuel.
Fulcrum BioEnergy has been awarded £16,764,000 from the Government as part of a wider £165m pay-out to a number of companies.
The project is developing a commercial-scale plant that uses gasification and Fischer-Tropsch to convert black bin bag waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
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The plant is expected to be operational in 2027 and produce 83.7kt/y of SAF when at full capacity.
The Government said the successful projects will slash CO2 emissions by an average of 200,000 tonnes each year once fully up and running – the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road.
It added that the projects will produce over 300,000 tonnes of SAF a year – enough to fly to the moon and back an estimated 60 times.
The Government also said the winners of the Advanced Fuel Fund will create thousands of skilled, green jobs.
The other winners were:
- Lincolnshire-based Velocys plc - £27m
Port Talbot-based Lanzatech Ltd - £24.9m
- Teesside-based Alfanar Energy - £11m
A second to be confirmed Velocys location - £2.5m
Jeff Ovens, managing director of Fulcrum Bioenergy, said: "Fulcrum is very excited and grateful to have been awarded funding from the UK DfT’s Advanced Fuels Fund, to help develop our 'Fulcrum NorthPoint' residual waste to SAF plant, at Stanlow, UK.
"This funding will help Fulcrum build on the technical knowledge and experience the company has gained from well over a decade of project development and the early operations of its US based, 'Sierra BioFuels' plant - the world's first waste to sustainable hydrocarbon fuels facility.
"Alongside the operational experience gained from Sierra, this DfT funding will further help de-risk the NorthPoint Project and target 'investor ready' status, in preparation for construction start in 2025 and operations in 2027."
Transport Secretary Mark Harper added: "Using waste or by-products to refuel airliners sounds like a flight of fancy, but thanks to £165m of Government funding it’s going to help us make guilt-free flying a reality.
"It’s exactly this kind of innovation that will help us create thousands of green jobs across the country and slash our carbon emissions."
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