British Airways invests in SAF tech provider LanzaJet

Photo: British Airways

British Airways is investing in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology provider LanzaJet as LanzaJet builds its first commercial-scale plant, the Freedom Pines Fuels facility, in Georgia. The Georgia plant will utilize LanzaJet’s Alcohol to Jet patented chemical process to convert ethanol to SAF. Construction is expected to begin this year.

The airline will also purchase SAF from Lanzajet’s U.S. plant to fuel flights from late 2022 onward. In addition, the partnership will involve LanzaJet implementing early-stage planning and design for a potential commercial facility for British Airways in the U.K.

“Following the successful start-up of the Georgia plant, we hope to then deploy the technology and SAF production capacity in the U.K.,” said Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways. “The U.K. has the experience and resources needed to become a global leader in the deployment of such sustainable aviation fuel production facilities, and we need government support to drive decarbonization and accelerate the realization of this vision.”

Jimmy Samartzis, LanzaJet CEO, said, “Low-cost, sustainable fuel options are critical for the future of the aviation sector and the LanzaJet process offers the most flexible feedstock solution at scale, recycling wastes and residues into SAF that allows us to keep fossil jet fuel in the ground. British Airways has long been a champion of waste to fuels pathways especially with the U.K. government. With the right support for waste-based fuels, the U.K. would be an ideal location for commercial scale LanzaJet plants.”

LanzaJet was launched in June 2020 and is a spin-off from biotech company LanzaTech. British Airways will be joining LanzaTech, Mitsui and Suncor Energy as investors in LanzaJet, which now plans to develop four larger-scale plants producing SAF and renewable diesel as soon as 2025. British Airways has an existing partnership with Velocys to build a facility to convert waste into SAF in the U.K. British Airways says its parent company, International Airlines Group, will be investing $400 million in sustainable aviation fuel in the next 20 years.