Novel catalyst pioneer OXCCU launches first-of-a-kind PtL SAF demonstration facility

Oxford University spin-out OXCCU has opened a demonstration Power-to-Liquid (PtL) sustainable aviation fuel production plant at Oxford Airport in the UK. Designed and operated by OXCCU, the first-of-a-kind facility is due to start operations in September, producing 1.2kg (approximately 1.2 litres) of liquid fuel per day. The company says it will be the world’s first demonstration of the direct conversion of CO2 and hydrogen to jet fuel range hydrocarbons in a single step through using its novel catalyst. Most PtL processes use a two-step approach involving the conversion of CO2 to CO, which OXCCU says requires a large energy input that leads to high operating and end product costs, a major barrier to e-SAF adoption. If proven successful, this first plant, OX1, will be followed by a bigger facility, OX2, to be designed, built and operated at Saltend Chemicals Park in north-east England by 2026 and capable of producing 160kg (200 litres) per day. The company has received backing from Boston-based Clean Energy Ventures and United Airlines, among others.

“We’re beyond excited to launch the OX1 plant, located close to where OXCCU was born,” Andrew Symes, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told a media event to launch the facility. “The fuel we’ve already made in a single step from CO2 in the lab has created great excitement with its potential to massively reduce the cost of SAF, but the scale-up is key and this plant will generate the data and litres of fuel we need.”

The catalytic technology for converting CO2 to aviation jet fuel, which the company is calling OX•EFUEL, was first developed at the University of Oxford’s chemistry department, which resulted in a breakthrough paper published in Nature in 2020 and the filing of a patent, followed by the OXCCU spin-out in 2021.  

In addition to Symes, the founders and senior management are Oxford University alumni and include Dr Jane Jin, COO; Dr Naomi Wise, CSO; Dr Benzhen Yao, Chief Engineer; and Dr Tiancun Xiao, CTO. Dr Xiao is a renowned catalyst expert with more than 300 publications and over 50 industry patents filed, and was a co-founder of Oxford Catalysts, now Velocys.

The key to the OXCCU one-step process is a patented multifunctional iron catalyst that converts CO2 and H2 directly into jet fuel range hydrocarbons using different active sites on the same catalyst surface, avoiding the step to first produce CO. “To our knowledge, we are the only SAF company with a one-step catalyst that does not produce significant amounts of alcohols as a byproduct,” says the company. “The process eliminates the need for a Reverse Water Gas Shift or electrochemical syngas step to first produce CO, which leads to a step-change, simpler reactor design with higher efficiency.”

It adds that modelling by independent researchers from Imperial College London has shown OXCCU’s one-step process “significantly reduces SAF cost due to higher selectivity yield in the jet fuel range and a 50% lower capital cost.” The company accepts that a significant amount of ‘green’ electricity is required to produce the green hydrogen from water via electrolysis but that its CO2 + H2 to SAF process is exothermic in that it releases energy “and we operate under mild conditions”. OXCCU adds that its catalyst has been validated for over 2,000 hours in lab conditions.

“While 1.2 litres of fuel a day may not seem significant, it’s a big scale-up moving from the lab to operating a chemical plant,” said Symes.

Symes acknowledges the main problem with e-fuels is cost. “With biofuels, the challenge is feedstocks, with us it’s costs. The solution is the catalyst, which enables you to convert CO2 into fuel. The catalyst is the heart of all processes in the petrochemical industry and our catalyst enables you to get CO2 to fuel at lower capital and operating costs.”

So where will the CO2 come from? “In the short term we can use industrial sources for the CO2, which will get you emissions reductions of 70-80% compared to fossil,” said Symes. “We’re not saying this is perfect but we can move towards perfection by capturing CO2 from the air and combining it with green hydrogen to make fuel. You can also capture CO2 from biogenic sources. So we’re talking about carbon capture and utilisation and using CO2 as a viable resource and not just putting it underground.”

While PtL production will remain small initially, he predicts a rapid scale-up in the years to come, partly driven by government policy. The EU’s SAF blending mandate requires 28% of all jet fuel consumed to come from e-fuels by 2050, with the UK proposed SAF mandate requiring a more modest 3.5% by 2040, a move that disappoints Symes.

A Series A funding round in 2023 raised £18 million ($23m) and this year OXCCU won a £2.8 million UK government grant through the Advanced Fuels Fund. Investment has come from IP Group (now Kiko Ventures), Clean Energy Ventures, United Airlines, Eni, Aramco Ventures and Trafigura. It also has support from Oxford Airport, Oxford University, the jet fuel research and test centre at the University of Sheffield, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and IAG.

The company is looking to raise further finance of £20-25 million later this year or early next to enable funding of the Saltend project, where the fuel produced will be used for jet fuel testing and earning revenues from customers. The ultimate aim is to provide technology packages to SAF project developers on a global basis.

“We want to be the leading catalyst provider and license the design of our reactor and process but we will be distinct from the developer who is financing and building the project,” said Symes. “OXCCU’s catalyst will sit at the centre of the refinery of the future.”

Photo: OXCCU’s Head of Engineering, Charles Yiu, in front of the newly completed OX1 plant at Oxford Airport

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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