US firm plans £600m green fuel plant
BBCA US firm has announced plans to invest £600m to produce sustainable fuel at a site near Hull.
LanzaTech said its DRAGON II project would produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, creating 150 long-term jobs and 300 more during construction at the Saltend Chemicals Park.
Construction work is expected to start in 2027 and the site will be operational in 2030, the company said.
Jim Woodger, the company's managing director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Americas, said it selected the Saltend site because it offered "exceptional infrastructure for SAF production".
LanzaTech, which turns industrial waste into fuel, said it expected the DRAGON II project would deliver about 80,000 tonnes of SAF and 8,000 tonnes of renewable diesel each year.
It has been partially funded by a £6.4m grant from the Department for Transport's Advanced Fuels Fund, the Illinois-based firm said.
'Growing status'
The announcement follows the closure of Vivergo Fuels at Saltend last year, which had been expected to provide bioethanol to another proposed SAF factory at the site.
LanzaTech said it would produce 50,000 tonnes of ethanol which would be processed at Saltend and Port Talbot, South Wales.
Simon Green, chief executive of Humber Freeport, said the LanzaTech investment would "reinforce the Humber's growing status as a leading UK hub for the development of sustainable aviation fuel and associated critical chemicals".
Officials from px Group, which owns Saltend Chemicals Park, said the investment showed the area had a "continued attractiveness for world-first, low-carbon projects".
Chief executive Geoff Holmes said: "DRAGON II will further strengthen the Humber's status as the UK's Energy Estuary, delivering jobs and a resilient, net-zero future for the region."
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