World-first, low-carbon aviation fuel for Virgin Atlantic

Posted 29 Nov 2011

Since our exciting announcement last month on our partnership with LanzaTech for low-carbon aviation fuel, we’ve been really pleased at the generally positive response we've received from both within and outside the industry.

We really believe this new technology is a major step forward in offering a scalable, sustainable and commercially viable alternative to kerosene, and we’ll keep you updated on our progress over the coming months. In the meantime, here are the links to just a few of the stories, by The Climate Group, Green Air and Good Environment.

Positive response to our low carbon fuel partnership

Posted 11 Oct 2011

Today we announced a world-first, low-carbon aviation fuel with about half the carbon footprint of the standard, fossil-fuel alternative, kerosene.

The ground breaking partnership with LanzaTech represents a breakthrough in aviation fuel technology that will see waste gases from industrial steel production being captured, fermented and chemically converted (using Swedish Biofuels technology) for use as a jet fuel. The revolutionary fuel production process recycles waste gases that would otherwise be flared off into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

We anticipate that within two to three years, Virgin Atlantic will use the new fuel on its routes from Shanghai and Delhi to London Heathrow, as LanzaTech develop facilities in China and India. We also hope that the technology will be retrofitted to UK facilities, as well as other facilities worldwide, enabling us to uplift a significant proportion of low-carbon fuel across the world.

The technology is currently being piloted in New Zealand, a larger demonstration facility will be commissioned in Shanghai this year, and the first commercial operation will be in place in China by 2014.

Over the coming months and years, we will work closely with a number of industry partners and stakeholders – including Boeing, Swedish Biofuels, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, Imperial College London and interested NGOs to ensure that the fuel meets exacting sustainability standards, and becomes a commercial reality, in widespread use within the aviation industry.