Kent to conduct pre-FEED for Eq.flight’s SAF demo plant

Integrated energy services partner Kent said it has partnered with Equilibrion to deliver the pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) for an advanced power-to-liquids (PtL) sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demonstration plant Eq.flight.

“Eq.flight marks a meaningful step in the UK’s drive to build a domestic sustainable aviation fuel sector. With stronger policy support now in place in the UK, the opportunity for projects like this to move toward commercial reality is growing,” said Les Newman, managing director, UK at Kent.

Kent and Equilibrion collaborated during the successful bid for funding from the UK Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF).

Eq.flight aims to demonstrate a UK-based, highly integrated PtL SAF pathway using local electricity and heat inputs providing secure and stable production.

While the design represents a nuclear-enabled production route, the demonstration plant will simulate these energy inputs to validate system performance and operational integration ahead of future commercial projects.

“Eq.flight enables us to bring advanced electrolysis and synthesis technologies together in a way that hasn’t been demonstrated in the UK before,” said Equilibrion co-founders Caroline Longman and Phil Rogers.

As part of the Pre-FEED phase, Kent is developing the engineering design for the demonstration system. Eq.flight brings together solid oxide electrolysis, reverse water-gas shift, and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis technologies to produce drop-in SAF.