A Hull construction company has completed work on a building set to become the UK’s flagship testing centre for sustainable aviation fuels.
Hobson & Porter has created the University of Sheffield’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre (SAF-IC), where new and sustainable aviation fuels will be tested before powering aircraft across the world. The new research centre is the first of its kind in the UK and will be used by producers of aviation fuels to test, characterise and deploy their latest products.
Hobson & Porter has handed over the 6,600 sq ft facility, as part of a £2.6m contract. The project was jointly funded by the ERDF and the University of Sheffield. Specialist equipment is now being installed, with the centre scheduled to fully open in summer 2023.
Read more: Financial Conduct Authority to recruit 100 people for city centre offices
It forms part of the University of Sheffield Energy Institute and is in the University of Sheffield Innovation District, which is home to the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).
Richard Hunter, managing director of Hobson & Porter, said: “This was our first project for the University of Sheffield and it’s been a superb development to work on. The centre incorporates an array of highly innovative and technical features including an aircraft auxiliary power unit acoustic test cell and a high pressure, high temperature combustion test cell, as well as specific areas for hydrogen, zero-carbon fuels and advanced combustion research.
“Ultimately, this facility will now become the UK’s flagship testing centre for sustainable aviation fuels, which will help to reduce carbon emissions and play a vital role in the future of the aviation industry.”
Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, managing director of the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre and director of the University of Sheffield Energy Institute, said: “It is fantastic to see the progress of the construction of the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre, which has been a smooth and efficient process thanks, in part, to our contractors, Hobson and Porter.
“Our SAF characterising laboratory will provide fast, cost effective and unique capabilities for testing new fuels, with the state-of-the-art equipment that no other academic research centre has, such as a GCxGC, ToF-MS, and ICP-OES. Now we will begin the exciting process of installing cutting-edge equipment, which will help to make this centre a unique and vital asset to the UK’s aviation industry.”
The facility will work in combination with the neighbouring Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) - a national pilot-scale testing facility that is also part of the University of Sheffield - to support pioneering research and provide much-needed testing capabilities to help prepare sustainable aviation fuels for commercial use.
Together with TERC, SAF-IC will be the first centre in the UK to be able to capture carbon dioxide, produce green hydrogen, convert them into sustainable aviation fuels and analyse their performance all in one single location.
