Altalto Immingham waste-to-jet plant receives planning permission

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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.

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