Saudis Move Forward with Largest SAF Plant in U.K.

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Saudi Arabian engineering construction firm Alfanar Construction Company (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) has committed to building the U.K.'s largest sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) projects in Teesside, England.

The Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) project, located at the North Tees industrial cluster, will aim to transform 1.5 million tonnes of waste biomass into up to 180 million liters of SAF each year. Based in Stockton-on-Tees, the commercial scale plant will use torrefaction with gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology to convert sawmill and forestry residues into enough SAF to power 25,000 short-haul or 2,500 long-haul flights annually. With commissioning expected in 2029, it will become Europe's largest SAF plant.

Tee Valley Mayor Ben Houchen announced the news following a visit to Alfanar's headquarters in Riyadh: "It is outstanding news that Alfanar has committed to delivering this project on Teesside and it's a further example of the transformative global investments we are bringing to Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. Developments such as Lighthouse Green Fuels put our region at the forefront of a growing industry which is primed for massive expansion and will deliver thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment in coming years. We have the skills, infrastructure and passion to attract world-class projects and we will not stop here. We are tirelessly working to promote our region -- including the U.K.'s most successful Freeport -- as a first-choice location for national and internal investment." Industrial Info is tracking seven projects under the Lighthouse Green Fuels umbrella, with a combined investment value of US$1.3 billion. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.

The positive investment decision comes just a few months after the project won another £8 million (US$9.9 million) from the government's Advanced Fuel Fund (AFF), which provides grant funding to commercial and demonstration-scale projects in the U.K. at development stages up to construction.The funding will support the completion of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and front-end engineering and design (FEED) of LGF. So far the project has benefitted from £27 million (US$36.7 million) in government grants. Alfanar U.K. country head Noaman Al Adhami commented: "We are delighted to receive further funding from the U.K. Government via the AFF to help us realise our world leading SAF investment in Teesside. With continued support, our LGF project will cut aviation emissions - one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise - while helping to establish a new green industry and create new jobs in Teesside and attracting major inward investment to the UK."

The project will also be connected to carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities currently under development off the coast of Teesside by the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP). NEP is the CO2 transportation and storage provider for the East Coast Cluster and will provide the infrastructure that will serve three initial carbon capture projects on Teesside: NZT Power, H2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture. The infrastructure will include a CO2-gathering network and onshore compression facilities as well as a 145 kilometers (km) offshore pipeline and subsea injection and monitoring facilities for the Endurance saline aquifer located around 1 kilometer below the seabed. The infrastructure will transport and permanently store up to an initial 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).