Willis Sustainable Fuels selects FT CANS to boost sustainable aviation fuel production in the UK

31 March 2025

  • FT 颁础狈厂鈩� technology selected for Willis Sustainable Fuels鈥� SAF project in Tees Valley, England.
  • This is the 4th project in Europe to select FT CANS for SAF production.
  • This is the 6th project contributing to JM鈥檚 strategic milestone of 20 additional large-scale projects in Catalyst Technologies鈥� sustainable technologies portfolio by the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.

Johnson Matthey (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, today announced that Willis Sustainable Fuels (WSF) has selected JM and bp鈥檚 award-winning Fischer Tropsch (FT) 颁础狈厂鈩� technology for WSF鈥檚 sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in Teesside, Northeast England.

The project, which is expected to be operational in 2028, plans to be the first of its kind in the UK. The facility intends to use a biomethane feedstock, processed into syngas using JM鈥檚 proven reforming technology. This syngas will feed the JM/bp FT CANS technology to produce synthetic crude oil that can be upgraded and blended to SAF. Once operational, the WSF facility plans to produce 14 thousand tonnes of SAF blendstock per year.

Teesside is becoming an active location in the UK for SAF production, with Teesside International Airport鈥檚 own net zero strategy setting ambitions for it to use SAF to achieve net zero flights by 2035 and to be the UK鈥檚 first net zero airport[1].

WSF鈥檚 planned development was one of five Teesside-based projects to receive funding from round two of the Department for Transport鈥檚 Advanced Fuels Fund[2] which enables the commercial deployment of fuel production technologies capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the UK aviation industry.

Alberto Giovanzana, Managing Director Licensing at Johnson Matthey, said: 鈥淎s a UK-headquartered company, we鈥檙e excited our technology has been selected to be part of this innovative UK project. With our FT CANS development and testing facilities located in Teesside, and projects like this in development, we see the North East as a leader in efforts to meet the UK SAF mandate. We look forward to working with Willis Sustainable Fuels to develop SAF in the region ...and beyond!鈥�

Amy Ruddock, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Aviation & Corporate Development at Willis Lease Finance Corporation, the parent company of WSF, said: 鈥淧artnering with Johnson Matthey and other industry leaders enables us to drive meaningful progress toward our vision of connecting the world through sustainable flight.鈥�

鈥淭his pioneering project will demonstrate the potential of our Carbonshift pathway, which can leverage various sustainable feedstocks and be tailored to produce power-to-liquids鈥攈elping to shape the future of aviation fuels.鈥�

 

 

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