Could human waste be the key to more eco-friendly travel? One low-cost airline thinks so after it placed an order, potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds, for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from human waste.
Budget airline Wizz Air has ordered up to 525,000 tonnes of waste-based fuel which it plans to use over the next 15 years.
The SAF has been made by UK startup Firefly, which has devised a process of turning treated sewage into fuel. The business plans to build a pilot refinery in Essex which would take biosolid matter from Anglian Water and turn it into aircraft fuel.
Firefly said it expects to start supplying Wizz Air with the SAF by 2028 or 2029.
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The move by Hungary-based Whizz Air comes amid EU and UK fuel sustainability rules coming into force to drive decarbonisation within the aviation sector.
By 2035, at least 20% of jet fuel being used within the EU must be SAF, while a 10% SAF rule is expected in place across the UK by 2030.
Speaking to the Guardian, Firefly’s chief operations officer, Paul Hilditch, said converted sewage should be cheaper and more plentiful than traditional jet fuel and could provide up to 5% of airlines’ fuel needs in the UK.
Wizz Air corporate and ESG officer Yvonne Moynihan said the Firefly investment has the potential to reduce the aviation firm’s lifecycle emissions by 100,000 tonnes CO2-eq per year, underscoring Wizz Air’s commitment to “mainstream the use of SAF in our operations by 2030″.
“However, achieving our aspiration requires a significant ramp-up of SAF production and deployment,” she added.
“Therefore, we call on policymakers to address barriers to SAF deployment at scale by incentivising production, providing price support and embracing additional sustainable feedstocks for biofuel production.”
