Plane Fuel From Waste

Biomass boiler heating received a boost from the Department for Transport this month.

It has announced plans to turn landfill into sustainable jet fuel for the UK aviation industry, by pledging £434,000 of funding to a scheme. The scheme will cost £5 million in total.

Biofuels firm Velocys has pledged £1.5 of its own money to the project that will see it take hundreds of tonnes of post-recycled waste that is destined for landfill, and convert this into fuel for planes.

Shell has also pledged £3 million to the fund which it is hoped will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft that use it by up to 70 per cent and particulate matter by 90 per cent.

“We are very pleased that the government has recognised the importance of alternative fuels for aviation and has supported our joint project with Velocys which will help to reduce carbon emissions and create UK jobs and growth,” said Alex Cruz, CEO of British Airways.

The project is part of a larger £22 million project by the Government to fund research into the development of sustainable fuels for freight and aviation. The plans for this were launched in 2014 and at the time Transport Minister Jesse Norman said he hoped that the funding would bring £600 million to the UK economy by 2030 and nearly 10,000 new jobs.

The plans sit alongside Government plans to make every car and van on the roads zero emission by 2040.