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COWI & Swedish Biofuels in partnership to build plants for sustainable aviation fuel

Swedish Biofuels and COWI have entered into a partnership to bring 400 000 metric tons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the Swedish market and contribute to the national program Fossil Free Sweden. The partnership aims to implement the novel Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) technology developed by Swedish Biofuels for the construction of three SAF production plants in Sweden. The first plant will be located near Arlanda Airport.

– This is an extremely important project with the potential to change the whole aviation industry and its dependency on fossil fuels. We have chosen not to work with projects within fossil fuels and instead use our knowledge about fuels to work with customers as Swedish Biofuels. Within three to five years, all our revenues will come from projects related to moving customers towards a sustainable direction, says Karin Genemo, SVP, Industry at COWI.
This novel ATJ technology enables the production of neat SAF and makes a complete replacement of fossil aviation fuel possible. COWI will contribute to funding and provide its expertise in project management, planning, and construction of the plants.
– Our technology entails the first ever commercial production of fully formulated, green, and sustainable aviation fuel in the world. We believe it will be a total game changer within the aviation industry because it will allow us to end the use of fossil fuels. The implementation of such technology is an important step towards a greener environment and achieving self-sufficiency goals. We will end our dependence on foreign fossil oil while simultaneously caring for the environment, says Dr Angelica Hull, CEO of Swedish Biofuels.

The construction of the first plant, of 20 000 tons, is an ongoing project supported by the European Commission with product delivery in 2025. This takes place in Brista, on a site close to Arlanda Airport. In addition to using sustainable green ethanol feedstock, the production plant will use Swedish Biofuels’ technology to produce SAF from green off-gases and green hydrogen. The flexibility of the plant includes the option to produce other sustainable fuels, such as diesel and gasoline, at product ratios driven by market demand.

The excess green heat from production will be delivered to the neighboring combined heat and power plant of Stockholm Exergi, providing the city of Stockholm with green district heating. Future production plants are planned in Sweden to bring a total of 400 000 tons of SAF to market. This corresponds to approximately 40 percent of current annual consumption of aviation fuel at Arlanda.

About COWI
COWI is a leading consulting group that creates value for customers, people, and society through our unique 360° approach. Based on our world-class competencies within engineering, economics and environmental science, we tackle challenges from many vantage points to create coherent solutions for our customers.

About Swedish Biofuels
Swedish Biofuels delivers engineering solutions, process architecture and science for the production and conversion of alcohols to transport fuels and valuable chemicals from sustainable feedstocks. The company is the inventor of the original Alcohol to Jet technology (ATJ), patented in 2004 for the production of fully formulated sustainable aviation fuels from alcohols (SAF). The company has produced, sold and delivered fully formulated SAF for tests, certification and demonstration programmes in US, UK, Sweden and Germany.