The UK’s Farnborough Airport has announced that it has signed a deal with Hydrogen Refinery to supply 12.5 million liters (10,000 tons) annually of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) made locally from waste materials.
In a statement on March 20, 2024, the airport said it is “already one of the largest single-site suppliers of SAF to the business aviation community”, having sold over two million liters (1.600 tons) of 38% blended SAF since 2021.
“Their [Hydrogen Refinery’s] patented technology has the potential to provide Farnborough Airport with enough proprietary supplies of SAF for us to become the first and only airport in the world to be offering fuel with a 20% blend across its entire supply by 2028, well ahead of the UK Government’s own target of 10% by 2030,” said Simon Geere, CEO at Farnborough Airport.
However, with the introduction of SAF mandates taking effect at the start of 2025, domestic sales of SAF are increasingly being put at risk by the lack of production and investment within the UK, the airport said.
Both the UK and the European Union have established mandates that require a specific amount of SAF to be used starting from January 2025, along with regulations on how SAF should be produced in the future.
SAF is currently almost entirely produced from waste cooking oil or HEFA (Hydro processed Esters and Fatty Acids). However, Hydrogen Refinery’s technology is able to produce carbon negative SAF from a variety of mixed waste products, sourced locally or from landfill sites.
“Hydrogen Refinery has a unique process called the plasma electrolyser system that can process mixed waste, including airline passenger food waste, into SAF,” Stephen Voller, CEO at Hydrogen Refinery explained. “This is not only a low-cost process but is also carbon negative because the waste is processed without the emissions from incineration or landfill.”
In 2024, Farnborough Airport received Level 4+carbon accreditation status from the Airport Carbon Accreditation. The airport also announced the completion of one of the largest lightweight solar installations in the Southeast of England, allowing it to produce 25% of its own energy.
