Public, Private Cash Critical For ESAF Next Step, OXCCU Says

KIDLINGTON, OXFORDSHIRE—Work on a pioneering PTL SAF (power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel, or eSAF) production pathway is progressing well at London Oxford Airport, startup developer OXCCU says. The firm has laid the foundations on a site at the airport where it intends to build its second, demonstration-scale refinery: but progress will depend on continued government funding and the successful conclusion of an ongoing private funding round, a company spokesperson confirmed here during the airport’s annual media day.

OXCCU (Oxford Circular Carbon Utilization) is a company spun-out from the University of Oxford in 2021 focused on converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products.

OXCCU commissioned its first pilot plant at Oxford Airport in 2024.

The facility has been producing “about a kilogram of fuel a day,” OXCCU’s chief sustainability officer, Dr. Naomi Wise, says. The amount is insufficient to fuel an aircraft, but will be enough over a year of operations to validate the chemical and the physical design characteristics of OXCCU’s proprietary catalyst and to prove that the overarching concept works, she says.

The firm’s ultimate end product—an eSAF it calls OXEFUEL—has advantages over SAFs produced from other pathways, Wise says. As well as the catalyst removing one step from the process used by other eSAF producers (and thus reducing complexity, and the cost of the fuel produced), OXCCU has “the ability to tailor our fuel”, Wise says, allowing the firm to reduce its aromatic content while still meeting the Jet A1 specification.

“We can lower the naphthalene content and increase cycloalkane, so that we can get the same density,” she says. “We get the same Jet A1-qualifying fuel, but we’ve minimized these key components that contribute to non-CO₂ emissions. We can produce not only the lowest carbon intensity SAF on the market at the lowest cost, but we can also address the issues that are associated with the non-CO₂ emissions, which would improve respiratory health.”

In August 2024, when the firm announced the commissioning of the pilot plant (which it calls OX1), CEO Andrew Symes indicated that the follow-on stage would be a first-of-a-kind commercial plant to be built at the Saltend Chemicals Park, near Hull, East Yorkshire, capable of producing 160 kg of the company’s OXEFUEL eSAF per day. But a newly published timeline includes an intermediate facility, OX2, which, Wise says, will be capable of producing “one to three tons per year.” The three stages are designated as Pilot, Demonstrator and Commercial Projects, respectively. The demonstrator is now the firm’s main focus.

“From this point [OX2] we think we can scale up to commercial [production] and this is where we’ll take off—no pun intended,” Wise says. “This is where we [will] start to license our technology.
We’re going to be licensing the reactor and supplying the catalyst. Many others, like [catalyst developers] Johnson Matthey and Topsoe, have huge business operations based on this model.”

OXCCU is still targeting the first commercial-scale plant to be built in the UK, which it is now referring to as OX3 and is aiming to deliver in 2028. But the firm stresses that their technology has potential application in territories with the right regulatory or power-generating conditions.

“We’ll start in the UK because the [UK government’s] SAF mandate has a PTL quota that we can fill,” Wise says. “But there’s other places ... where we’re going to be looking to explore and where we’re going to be looking for projects.” She cites Australia, Norway, Canada and the U.S. as being potentially advantageous locations, either “because the cost of electricity is lower, or they have a SAF mandate that specifically says you have to provide power-to-liquid fuel as part of that.”

Another requirement for the OXCCU process is the availability of green hydrogen. “We all know that sector is facing its own challenges at the moment,” Wise says. “But we can facilitate the hydrogen industry by providing offtake for them.”

Preparatory work for OX2 has already begun. It is set to be built at London Oxford, adjacent to OX1, on a site seven times the size. The plant’s output will be used both in the “rigorous process” the firm has to undertake to achieve accreditation from standards body ASTM for their SAF production pathway, and “to [send] to potential offtakers for when we have a larger plant,” Wise says. However, the company has not yet secured all the funding necessary to see OX2 through to completion.

“We are extending [the existing site footprint] with the hope that we will secure that fundraise,” she says. “To what extent we can develop the site and do what we want to do depends on how much we raise. Although we have reserves, the fundraise will be for that demonstrator.”

The current funding round aims to secure between £20 and £30 million [$27-40 million]. Wise also notes that the firm has applied for a grant from the third “window” of the UK government’s Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuel Fund. A decision on that is expected in June.