Wizz Air Leads Charge for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Solutions

Wizz air, a budget airline flying from smaller European airports, worries about SAF availability at these smaller hubs. Their competitor, Ryanair, aims for 12.5% SAF costs. Wizz air, known for price-conscious customers, hesitates to raise fares due to SAF costs. They’re banking on government incentives to ease the financial strain.

The airline knows it might have to bring in SAF from abroad but has deals with European suppliers. They chipped in $50 million with Frontier Airlines and Volaris in CleanJoule, a US SAF company, in May 2023. Together, they agreed to buy up to 90 million gallons of SAF.

Yvonne Moynihan, Corporate and ESG Officer at Wizz Air, says SAF is vital for cutting aviation emissions, but it faces big challenges with cost and availability. She urges policymakers to help by offering price support, using more sustainable materials for biofuel, and giving incentives for production.

Moynihan was interested in the Firefly project because it offers low-cost materials and expects competitive SAF prices. Firefly estimates it could make about 40 billion liters of SAF yearly worldwide from human sewage sludge, or biosolids. In the UK alone, this could yield 224,000 tonnes of SAF. They claim their fuel could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to regular jet fuel over its lifespan.

For its first Firefly Harwich factory, the business has signed many memorandums of understanding with industry partners, but it is currently gathering the required funding. Firefly is to begin construction on the first trial plant "in the coming months" at a specialised refinery site that German hydrocarbon-based manufacturing business Haltermann Carless—which also has SAF aspirations in its native country—is repurposing. It put into service a hydrogenation facility at its Speyer location, which is near Frankfurt Airport, in 2022. Starting in 2026, it plans to create 60,000 tonnes of SAF and renewable chemicals yearly utilising the alcohol-to-jet process and EU RED II certified source materials including forests and agricultural leftovers.

As Firefly secures funding for its initial Harwich facility, it's signed multiple agreements with industry partners. Haltermann Carless, a German company aiming for SAF production, is converting a refinery for Firefly's pilot plant, set to start construction soon. Using the alcohol-to-jet process and EU-certified materials like agricultural and forestry waste, they plan to produce 60,000 tonnes of SAF and renewable chemicals yearly from 2026 at their hydrogenation facility near Frankfurt Airport.

Anglian Water, which supplies water, sewage, and sewage treatment services to the East of England, will supply the feedstock.

Firefly CEO James Hygate said, "Signing these agreements is a big step toward our goal of creating a sustainable SAF industry in the UK." They plan to build three factories in the UK. Hygate believes that by creating new jobs and boosting growth, using sewage as a resource will lead to a cleaner and more prosperous future for everyone.