Page 61 - World Airnews Magazine February Edition 2021

NEWS DIGITAL

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Shell pulls out of joint venture to build
UK sustainable jet fuels plant Withdrawal

a blow to Boris Johnson’s desire for UK
to achieve first zero-emission long-haul
flight

Gwyn Topham and Jillian Ambrose

of sustainable fuels. The airline shelved potential sources of finance for the project,
a proposed waste-to-fuel factory in which was well placed to achieve significant
Shell has pulled out of a joint venture Thurrock, Essex, which was due to open government funding.
with British Airways and Velocys to build in 2017, blaming a lack of government BA’s parent company, IAG, was the first
a flagship sustainable jet fuels plant in the support. airline group to pledge that its operations
UK - in a blow to Boris Johnson’s claims Shell’s head of new fuels, Matthew would become net zero by 2050, albeit
that Britain could deliver the world’s first Tipper, said the oil company was “pursuing largely through offsetting.
zero-emission long-haul flight. multiple opportunities across our global BA’s chief executive, Sean Doyle, said
The oil firm was named last year as one portfolio”. “Sustainable aviation fuel is vital to the
of the top companies set to “turbocharge “On this occasion, we have decided to decarbonisation of aviation and to helping
government plans” for sustainable aviation focus our resources on other lower-carbon us achieve our net zero target. We are
fuels, the centrepiece of the so-called “jet fuels opportunities which leverage our own excited to continue to work with Velocys,
zero” plan to decarbonise flights. technology. We will continue to work with with the support of government and other
Shell said it would leave the Altalto proj- the aviation industry and the UK govern- private-sector partners.”
ect, to be built in Immingham, Humberside, ment, as part of the jet zero council, to help Velocys said it was looking forward to
days after the company agreed to join a decarbonise UK aviation,” he said. moving to the next stage of development
project in Canada which plans to produce Shell announced plans earlier this this year. The chief executive, Henrik
more than double the green fuel from less month to take a 40% interest in the Wareborn said, “Altalto Immingham is
than half the waste. Varennes Carbon Recycling project, the ready to take advantage of the strong push
Shell’s departure was by mutual consent, first waste-to-low-carbon-fuels plant in from both government and industry for
and the project would continue “according Quebec, which will use Montreal-based the decarbonisation of aviation, especially
to its existing development plan”, the three cleantech company Enerkem’s proprietary using waste feedstocks.”
parties behind the project said. technology. While manufacturers have said that
Immingham could begin supplying its The pair plan to treat more than 200,000 hybrid-electric, or even hydrogen, short-
first aviation fuel from non-recyclable tonnes of non-recyclable and wood waste haul commercial passenger jets could be
household waste within five ye annually to produce nearly 125m litres of feasible by 2035, long-haul net zero flights,
But Shell’s decision to exit the UK’s low carbon fuels to help cut emissions from if possible, are assumed to depend on
burgeoning green fuels industry is likely Canada’s transport industries. sustainable jet fuels. Q
to compound scepticism over Johnson’s The UK’s Immingham Altalto project • This article was amended on 20 January
promise that Britain would be in the “van- will use 500,000 tonnes of household and 2021 to clarify that the Varennes Carbon
guard of green innovation” by pioneering municipal waste to make 60m litres a year Recycling project and the Immingham
zero-emission transatlantic flight. of higher-grade kerosene jet fuel. Altalto project use different types of waste
The departure comes after a number of Velocys and BA said they had been products, and produce different types of
false starts for BA’s plans for UK production in talks for several months with other fuels.

World Airnews | February Extra 2021
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