A pilot facility in Kent, U.K., is tackling growing volumes of hard-to-recycle plastics by transforming them into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The process developed by Clean Planet Technologies will consume some of the 5 million tons/year of waste plastics generated in the U.K. alone and yield an ecologically sound aviation fuel.

The new Sustainability Innovation Centre has been engineered to support fuel and feedstock testing, validation and progression through the American Society for Testing and Materials qualification process. After waste plastics are pre-processed and shredded to a uniform size, the material is fed into one of two pyrolysis units; the larger of the two can process 1 ton/day of plastic. Following thermocatalytic conversion into a synthetic crude oil, impurities are removed and the pyrolysis oil is separated into relevant fractions in a distillation unit and optimized for upgrading into higher-value fuels.

A section of the Sustainability Innovation Centre pilot facility. Source: Clean Planet Technologies

The fractions produced are then treated in a hydroprocessing system, which uses hydrogen to further remove impurities, and transform the properties of the product to meet stringent SAF specifications. The result is a clean, low sulfur fuel suitable for aviation use.

According to Dr. Andrew Odjo, CEO at Clean Planet Technologies, “Every day 100,000 commercial flights fly globally. At the same time, 600,000 tons of non-recyclable waste plastics enter the environment globally. Our pilot facility will demonstrate this waste can be turned into a premium product with a quantifiable commercial demand, as well as reducing the lifecycle carbon footprint of the aviation industry. We monitor how much energy the process uses, and overall, it cuts the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% compared to traditional fossil jet fuel."