Altalto Immingham waste-to-jet plant receives planning permission
Type of post: NEWS.
Velocys has
announced that planning permission has been given to Altalto Immingham, the UK’s first
commercial waste-to-jet plant, by North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC)’s
Planning Committee. Also, it has secured a further 1 M£ funding for the project
from British
Airways PLC and Shell International
Petroleum Company Limited, payable before 30th June 2020.
Press releases:
- “JDA extension with British Airways
and Shell signed”, 12/5/2020.
- “NELC Planning Committee approves
waste-to-jet-fuel plant”, 20/5/2020.
Figure 1. Plant view looking North-East (taken
from Altalto website)
Altalto
project
|
The
project is being executed under a Joint Development Agreement between British
Airways, Shell and Velocys.
They are
developing plans to build the first commercial scale waste-to-transport-fuels
plant in the UK.
Altalto
is derived from the Latin, ‘Altus’ meaning ‘high’ and ‘Alter’ meaning ‘other’
in recognition of the alternative aviation fuels they will be making.
|
Location
|
Immingham
(UK).
The site
is called Portlink 180 and consists of approximately 80 acres of land located
on Hobson Way, between Immingham and Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Altalto
secured this preferred site for its first plant in December 2018.
|
Feedstock
|
Hundreds
of thousands of tons per year of household and office waste (including
hard-to-recycle plastics), left over after recycling.
|
Process
|
Stage 1:
Preparation. The incoming waste is received, sorted and prepared.
Stage 2: Gasification.
The solid waste is gasified: heated to a high temperature to break it down
and convert it into synthesis gas or syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen).
Stage 3: Synthesis.
After cleaning, the syngas is used to synthesise hydrocarbons using the
Fischer-Tropsch technology provided by Velocys.
Stage 4: Finishing.
These hydrocarbons are then refined into the final products.
|
Product
|
Sustainable
Aviation Fuel (SAF). Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK), which is approved
worldwide for commercial aviation at up to 50% in a blend with conventional
jet fuel.
The other
product is naphtha.
|
Employment
effect
|
It is
expected to create 130 permanent skilled jobs and many more during
construction.
|
Timeline
|
Subject to additional funding and financial
close, construction is targeted to begin in 2022, and the facility could be
producing fuel from 2025.
|