FT CANS™ technology selected for Willis Sustainable Fuels’ SAF project in Tees Valley, England.
This is the fourth project in Europe to select FT CANS for SAF production.
This is the sixth project contributing to JM’s strategic milestone of 20 additional large-scale projects in Catalyst Technologies’ sustainable technology portfolio by the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.
Johnson Matthey (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, announced today that Willis Sustainable Fuels (WSF) has selected JM and bp’s award-winning Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS™ technology for WSF’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in Teesside, northeast England.

The project, scheduled for commissioning in 2028, will be the first of its kind in the UK. The plant will use biomethane as a feedstock, processed into syngas using JM’s proven reforming technology. This syngas will feed JM/bp’s FT CANS technology to produce synthetic crude oil that can be upgraded and blended into SAF. Once operational, the WSF plant is expected to produce 14,000 tonnes of SAF blend per year.

Teesside is becoming an active location in the UK for SAF production, and Teesside International Airport’s own net-zero strategy sets out ambitions for it to use SAF to achieve net-zero emissions flights by 2035 and to be the UK’s first net-zero airport [1].

The planned WSF development was one of five Teesside-based projects to receive funding from the Department for Transport’s second round of Advanced Fuels Fund [2], which enables the commercial deployment of fuel production technologies capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the UK aviation industry.

Alberto Giovanzana, General Manager of Licensing at Johnson Matthey, said: “As a UK-based company, we are delighted that our technology has been selected to be part of this innovative UK project. With our FT CANS development and testing facility located in Teesside, and projects like this one under development, we see the Northeast as a leader in efforts to meet the UK Sustainable Fuels (SAF) mandate. We look forward to collaborating with Willis Sustainable Fuels to develop SAF in the region… and beyond!”

Amy Ruddock, Senior Vice President of Sustainable Aviation and Corporate Development at Willis Lease Finance Corporation, WSF’s parent company, said: “Partnering with Johnson Matthey and other industry leaders allows us to drive significant progress towards our vision of connecting the world through sustainable flight.”

This pioneering project will demonstrate the potential of our Carbonshift strategy, which can harness diverse sustainable feedstocks and adapt them to produce liquid energy, helping to define the future of aviation fuels.

Source and Credits to Johnson Matthey

For more information click <<Here>>