Fuel
Waste Carbon to SAF Process Touted as Cost Breakthrough
UK start-up's CEO Andrew Symes expresses concern over deprioritizing aviation decarbonization
OXCCU's OX1 SAF plant at Oxford Airport in the UK
OXCCU is now building a large test plant to produce sustainable aviation fuel using a catalyst that converts waste carbon and hydrogen.

OXCCU, a start-up founded almost four years ago by Oxford University chemical engineers, says it is on track to convert biogenic waste carbon and hydrogen into affordable sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by the end of the decade. The UK company opened its OX1 demonstration plant at Oxford Airport and now has the capacity to produce around a kilogram (1.2 liters) of fuel each day.

According to Andrew Symes, the company’s CEO and co-founder, OXCCU’s business model is to license its catalyst and reactor technology to convert blends of carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide and hydrogen sourced from waste biomass waste carbon into SAF. He told AIN that with the right partnerships in place for licensed production and distribution, the SAF could be available to aircraft operators in 2028 or 2029.