LanzaJet, British Airways and Nova Pangaea Technologies secure funding – Hydrocarbon Engineering

Project Speedbird – a partnership between LanzaJet, British Airways, and Nova Pangaea Technologies – has secured a total of £9 million from the UK government’s Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) competition.

LanzaJet, a leading ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology company and sustainable fuels producer, and NPT, a UK-based cleantech company developing advanced biofuels used to produce SAF, will receive the funding to increase global SAF production and decarbonise the aviation industry.

It follows the multi-million-pound investments from International Airlines Group (IAG) and British Airways earlier this year into NPT and Project Speedbird, respectively. IAG – British Airways’ parent company – is also a founding investor and shareholder of LanzaJet dating back to 2021.

The SAF will be developed using a combination of NPT’s innovative technology, which converts agricultural waste and wood residue feedstocks into second-generation biofuels such as ethanol, and LanzaJet’s proprietary technology that converts ethanol into SAF. The NPT ethanol will be initially processed into SAF through LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) plant in Soperton, Georgia, US – the first of its kind in the world – prior to Project Speedbird’s own larger ATJ facility, planned to be built in the UK by 2027. British Airways is intending to purchase all the SAF produced through Project Speedbird to help power some of its flights.

Project Speedbird will produce 27 million gal/yr of SAF which will reduce CO₂ emissions, on a net lifecycle basis, by 230 000 tpy.

Project Speedbird will produce SAF at full capacity by 2028, supporting progress towards the UK’s SAF mandate which will require at least 10% of jet fuel used by airlines to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.

Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of LanzaJet, said: “The aviation industry has set ambitious and necessary targets to address the urgency of climate change, and this next generation of SAF will be critical to meeting the industry’s goals. Project Speedbird is a tremendous example of what it takes to scale the industry and meet this moment. Government support like this is critical in facilitating that growth and we’re thrilled to be working with exceptional partners like Nova Pangaea Technologies and British Airways – making sure these goals become reality.”