PRESS RELEASE - New Clean Tech firm Avioxx plans September launch with novel process to make Sustainable Aviation Fuel from waste.

Dr Stephen J Wilkinson, CTO, teams up with FinTech entrepreneur Chris Hancock, CEO, to launch Avioxx - a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) innovation and manufacturing business.

The company utilises a patented process (GB2431511) to produce net zero fuel from waste plastics and other wastes that would otherwise be destined for incineration or landfill. We incinerate 25 million tons of waste every year in the UK and this figure is increasing. They will launch the business at an event on the 27th of September 2023 in London, and the founding team will demonstrate their novel process and reactor developed for the manufacture of sustainable aviation fuel.

Avioxx aims to manufacture 40,000,000 liters of sustainable jet fuel per year here in the UK. The company has successfully completed a pre-seed investment round and will continue to seek capital from institutional and private investors to allow them to build their Smart-Refinery.

Wilkinson was previously a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Chester and is a Cambridge alumnus; Hancock is founder and former CEO of two FinTech companies, Crowd2Fund and FinBlocks, which were established in 2014, and have so far helped to fund more than 700 British entrepreneurs.

Hancock says:

“Applying a venture-funding and software-centric approach to the relatively undisrupted oil and gas sector gives me “Deja Vu” of the start of the FinTech movement. People said I was mad for taking on the large banks. FinTech now employs over 76,000 people in the UK.”

"I’m incredibly privileged to be invited to take part in such an exciting and important venture. I can now play my part in achieving net zero in aviation whilst helping people to travel in a sustainable way.”

Wilkinson says:

“Our technology creates the breakthrough we have all been waiting for: the efficient production of high energy liquid fuels from the millions of tons of wastes we generate each year. It really is a gamechanger. As well as making them from sustainable sources, we foresee making better performing fuels for the aviation industry.”

The aviation sector accounts for 7% of the UKs CO2 output. It currently has few options than to change the type of fuel from fossil based to sustainable fuels made from other sources of hydrocarbons. Sustainable Aviation Fuel is growing at around 76% CAGR currently within the $360bn jet fuel market. 80% of aviation fuel is expected to transition to Sustainable Aviation Fuel in the coming decades - presenting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for new Clean Tech companies operating in this sector.

The firm aims to complete a Series A round of £12m to allow the development of a small-scale commercial plant before raising further funds for a much larger plant to operate at scale. The firm is currently in feasibility and detailed design phases for the next 12 to 24 months. The firm has adopted a highly agile approach to refinery and process design and is working to produce its first fuel in their new facility.

If you are interested in learning more about Avioxx, its differentiators, and becoming part of this movement then please get in touch.

Other information

• The company is based in London and Cheshire and has recently purchased its first Fischer-Tropsch reactor.
• The company will present its novel process and reactor at its launch event on the 27th of September 2023.
• The company has raised a significant part of its £1m pre-seed round which will allow completion of the design, licensing, and feasibility stage.
• The first stage of the process uses oxygen to gasify wastes. This is co-produced with hydrogen by electrolysis, powered by a highly efficient fuel cell system. This patented stage of the process offers high levels of efficiency in comparison to legacy systems.
• Wide variations in feedstock quality will be handled by an automatic control system using AI and Machine Learning.
• The firm has applied to the UK Government, Department of Transport Advanced Fuel fund.