Wizz Air planes could be powered by fuel made from human sewage

Planes could one day take off using fuel made from human waste under plans revealed by Wizz Air and the British sustainable aviation company Firefly to build a world-first commercial refinery in Essex.

- Gwyn Topham

The Bristol-based company said it had developed a process to convert treated sewage into sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.

Wizz Air, a low-cost airline, said it was investing by placing an order worth hundreds of millions of pounds for up to 525,000 tonnes of Firefly's faeces-based fuel over the next 15 years.

The UK firm has now signed agreements with industrial partners for a pilot refinery in Harwich that would take "biosolids" from Anglian Water and turn it into aircraft fuel.

Airlines will have to ensure a minimum level of fuel burned is certified sustainable in the coming decade, with the European Union mandating at least 20% SAF by 2035 and the UK expected to announce a mandatory 10% by 2030.

There are various ways of making SAF but most are far more expensive than normal kerosene jet fuel, with a limited supply of waste feedstocks such as used cooking oil.

Firefly's chief operations officer, Paul Hilditch, said converted sewage should be cheaper and more abundant, providing up to 5% of airlines' fuel needs in the UK.