Alfanar and N+P Group are to source and process up to one million tonnes per year of non-recyclable waste in the UK, with the material to be made into feedstock pellets which in turn could be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2028.
The companies are to source the waste from local authorities and waste companies, with the effort to "require the equivalent to the amount of rubbish produced by Birmingham and the wider West Midland Metropolitan Area every year" and the building of up to three waste processing plants.
The pellets are to be converted into SAF at Alfanar’s Lighthouse Green Fuels facility in Teesside, which is due to be operational in 2028.
"Taken together, this unique end-to-end solution will produce SAF that can be used in today’s aircraft engines and refuelling infrastructure with no modifications. It will produce 165 million litres of SAF, equivalent to 2,500 long-haul flights or 25,000 short-haul flights per year - enough to meet 10% of the UK 2030 SAF target," the companies announced in a joint statement.
"Our focus is to ensure we recycle as much as we can, but also to look for opportunities to create value from the things that can’t be recycled" said Lars Jennissen, chief development officer, N+P Group.
"Our new partnership with Alfanar enables us to take non-recyclable household and commercial waste and convert it into pellets, which can then be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel," Jennissen added.
" This means Lighthouse Green Fuels will not only be the biggest SAF production facility in the UK when operational, but the UK’s first negative emissions SAF project, and therefore a critical contributor to the UK Government’s 2030 SAF targets," said Noaman Al Adhami,Alfanar's country head UK.