TRAVEL TALK


Last November, the


government announced the latest tranche of spending in its £135m Advanced Fuels Fund. One recipient has been the University of Sheffield. Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, who heads up its research into sustainable aviation fuels, is optimistic about their potential — particularly that of Power to Liquid (PtL), a synthetically produced liquid hydrocarbon that blends hydrogen separated from water by renewable energy with carbon from captured CO2. “It’s in the early stages and not yet bankable,” he says. “But it’s significantly better, offering a reduction in CO2 of over 90%.” A report by global management


consultancy McKinsey claimed that ‘no mature, fully integrated PtL player is yet operating


at scale’ and that a potential ‘thousandfold’ increase in 10 years will be needed for it to make a meaningful contribution to decarbonisation. Any such rampant upscaling of PtL would be predicated on abundant stocks of renewable energy, something the UK is years — if not decades — away from. Nevertheless, Pourkashanian argues the UK could be producing enough SAF in the next 10 years to not just fuel its own aviation industry but to export. Carrie Harris, head of


sustainability at British Airways, is a fellow PtL advocate. She claims the airline is already a quarter of the way to meeting its 10% 2030 target, buoyed by £9m of government money for its Project Speedbird SAF plants in Teesside and Georgia, USA.


It’s also investing, via parent


company International Airlines Group (IAG), in electric aviation startup ZeroAvia. UK-based Ecojet — which bills itself as the world’s first all-electric airline — plans to start flying routes from Edinburgh later this year in conventionally powered 20-seat planes before retrofitting them with ZeroAvia’s zero-emissions engines in 2025. Larger, 70-seat turboprops, with a range of 300 miles, are expected in 2027. EasyJet, the UK’s biggest airline


in terms of passenger numbers, is embracing SAF — in 2021 it operated a 30%-blend flight from Gatwick. But it sees hydrogen power as the key to long-term decarbonisation. Several test flights have been conducted by Swiss start-up Destinus. Its prototype, Eiger, is shaped like


The government argues that the only way to decarbonise is to keep flying — a Faustian pact to avert an Icarian calamity


A380 aircraft being refuelled Right: Biogas plant producing green energy


a paper airplane and about as polluting; heat and water are the main emissions. This is just the start, says the company’s senior business development manager Martina Löfqvist. “Our ultimate dream is to get


an aircraft that can carry 400 passengers and go ultra long — maybe Europe to Australia direct,” she says. Two of the challenges are the scarcity and high price of hydrogen — although Löfqvist expects the latter to fall as production ramps up. The EU pledging to generate 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen and import 10 million tonnes more by 2030 heightens confidence. “Aviation is by its nature


highly innovative,” says BA’s Harris. “When I look at the amount of effort and innovation I feel optimistic. Ten years ago this technology — around SAF, hydrogen, ZeroAvia — didn’t exist. The advancement has been incredible.”


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