This Sustainable Aviation Fuel Café series will showcase the Department for Transport projects funded through the Advanced Fuel Fund (AFF) providing insight on the UK’s portfolio of SAF projects and opportunities to connect and collaborate.
Why attend?
- Explore investment opportunities
Learn about the latest SAF technologies, business models, and the investment needs of pioneering projects seeking to scale. - Insight into SAF scale‑up
Gain a concise overview of the technologies, commercial pathways, and development milestones shaping the UK’s emerging SAF industry. - Engagement with sector leaders
Connect with investors and the wider SAF supply chain.
Who should attend?
- Investors and financiers in clean tech and energy transition.
- Corporate venture teams and strategic partners.
- Airlines, OEMs, and the oil and gas sector.
- Policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders.
Café sessions
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13:00-13:45
Project SkyFuel: A First-of-a-Kind Methanol-to-Jet e-SAF Project with a Privileged Feedstock Position and Advanced Offtake
Lara Naqushbandi, CEO ETFuels
SkyFuel is one of the most advanced e-SAF projects globally and the only methanol-to-jet project currently in FEED in the UK, with Pre-FEED completed, a Class III cost estimate due in Q1 2026, and a £5 million Advanced Fuels Fund award validating technical and commercial maturity.
The project’s de-linked methanol-to-jet design creates a uniquely advantaged feedstock position, combining access to Power-to Liquid-compliant e-methanol from ETFuels’ ultra low-cost global portfolio with optional third-party supply and domestic hydrogen and CO₂ pathways. This configuration delivers a structurally competitive UK e-SAF project with strong cost resilience, advanced negotiations with aviation offtakers, and a clear path to FID aligned with the 2030 mandate-driven demand ramp.
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13:00-13:45
Lighthouse Green Fuels: The UK’s most advanced 2G SAF plant
Simon Owens, Director Engineering & Technical Alfanar Energy Limited
Short abstract of presentation: Developed by Alfanar Projects, the >£2 billion Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) project will be the UK’s first commercial-scale second-generation SAF plant. Located at a fully integrated site in Teesside, LGF will use gasification and Fischer–Tropsch technologies to produce 180 million litres of SAF annually.
This presentation will outline how Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) funding is advancing key delivery milestones, including FEED completion (expected in Q1 this year), progress toward a CCS connection to enable carbon-negative SAF production, ongoing PMC and EPC development, and project financing as LGF moves toward a targeted FID in mid-2027.
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13:00-13:45
Speaker and topic details to follow
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13:00-13:45
OX2 Update
Andrew Symes, CEO OXCCU
Demonstrating the direct conversion of CO2 and/or CO with H2 to jet fuel range hydrocarbons using novel iron F-T catalysts at Oxford Airport
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13:00-13:45
Topic details to follow
M Pourkashanian, Professor and Managing Director Energy Innovation Centre/The University of Sheffield
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13:00-13:45
EET Stanlow Methanol-to-Jet (MtJ) project update
Tim Suenson-Thorp, New Energies Development Manager Essar Energy Transition
Based at the existing Stanlow Refinery site, EET are developing a large commercial plant that uses methanol-to-jet technology to convert renewable e-methanol and biomethanol into SAF. This presentation will provide a status update for the project as part of the ongoing Pre-FEED being supported by the DfT Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF)
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13:00-13:45
Speaker and topic details to follow
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13:00-13:45
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13:00-13:45
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13:00-13:45
Project Speedbird – Taking Flight
Richard Marsh, Project Development Manager LanazaJet
An update on Project Speedbird, a pioneering sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) initiative led by LanzaJet in partnership with British Airways, aiming to build the UK’s first commercial‑scale ethanol‑to‑SAF biorefinery. Located at Wilton International in Teesside, the facility will use LanzaJet’s Alcohol‑to‑Jet technology to convert second‑generation ethanol—sourced from agricultural residues and woody biomass—into more than 90,000 tonnes (30 million gallons) of SAF and renewable diesel annually.
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13:00-13:45
Municipal Solid Waste as a feedstock for SAF production at scale
Jonathan McGivern, Commercial Development Director Northpointe Energy (Fulcrum Bioenergy)
Overview of Project Northpoint which is in development to be constructed in Ellesmere port
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13:00-13:45
Speaker and topic details to follow
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13:00-13:45
Speaker and topic details to follow
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13:00-13:45
Speaker and topic details to follow
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13:00-13:45
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13:00-13:45
Pioneering end-to-end demonstration of waste-to-molecules
Amna Bezanty, Chief Strategy Officer Sustainable Molecules (SuMo) Ltd
A world-leading demonstration of advanced waste-to-molecules technology, delivering a full circular-carbon pathway from feedstock to final molecules.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We are committed to ensuring our events are accessible for all.
If you experience any barriers to registering, for any reason, please contact us by email: enquiries@iukbc.org.uk or phone: +44 03333 403250 and we will support your registration.