UK-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) developer Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) plans to add bio-SAF to its green hydrogen-based fuel facility, in a move it claims will lift output by 70%.
Targeting first fuel production in late 2031, its Project Starling in Workington, UK, will adopt an updated system architecture that raises output from 25,000 to 42,000 tonnes of fuel per year.
The company said its FlexSAF plant design enables SAF production from biogenic CO2, water, and electricity, and advanced bioSAF from biomethane. The design also recycles by-products back into the syngas stream to “maximise high-value jet fuel output.”
CNF claimed it would increase production cost efficiency, while allowing it to adjust production mix in response to “feedstock availability and market demand.”
It intends to submit full planning for the project in spring 2028.
Project Starling has secured £6m ($8m) in UK government funding through the Advanced Fuels Fund, but remains to take final investment decision (FID).
Both planned pathways will be processed by synthesis technologies from Johnson Matthey and Honeywell, while green hydrogen will be supplied by 120MW of Topsoe solid oxide electrolyser (SOEC) systems.
It comes as the UK approaches a 2030 mandate for 10% of jet fuel in the country’s aviation market to be sustainable.
However, the UK government has been consulting the market on whether the mandate’s cap on hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA)-based fuels should stay in place, amid concerns green hydrogen-based fuels may not be available in quantities to meet the quota.
Currently, HEFA fuels can only account for a portion of the obligation, which is set to decrease from approximately 75% in 2030 to 42% in 2040.
“Making e-SAF and bio-SAF in one plant allows us to shift the balance as the market develops,” said Alasdair Lumsden, CNF Director and co-founder. “Aviation needs every scalable route to low-carbon fuel it can get.”
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