SAF reaches the English Chicago

opinion

by Fayaz Hussain

May 8, 2025

Dubbed the English Chicago for its manufacturing base and world-leading shipbuilding prowess nearly a century ago, the UK’s north-western port town of Barrow-in-Furness may soon reclaim its status as an industrial powerhouse.

The GRAMM consortium has applied to the UK Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) to support its transformative sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in this historic manufacturing hub.

The consortium’s journey began unexpectedly, as its lead Alexander Peschkoff explains: “I come from Ukraine. When the war started, I reached out to my former university buddies and my former business colleagues to explore potential in renewables. I have worked in commodities so it was natural for me to look at this space.”

Initially exploring green ammonia, Peschkoff and his partners at GRAMM pivoted when they realised the shipping industry wasn’t adopting alternative fuels as quickly as anticipated. Their focus shifted to sustainable aviation fuel after recognising a crucial market reality. “When it comes to renewable fuel, aviation is a much better focus than the shipping industry because there is no alternative,” Peschkoff notes. “With aviation, it’s either SAF or nothing.”

The project originally targeted the US market, where GRAMM spent about 12 months establishing partnerships and securing a site in Louisiana. However, following the 2024 presidential election and resulting policy uncertainties, the consortium redirected their efforts to the UK.

“We transferred the project to the UK because we always had a link to the UK through our offtakers,” Peschkoff explains to SAF Investor. “And secondly, we were looking to leverage the UK SAF mandate.”

What sets GRAMM apart from other SAF producers is their technological approach. The project uses the BioTfueL platform, developed over a decade by a consortium including global energy leader TotalEnergies, technology licensor Axens and industrial solutions provider thyssenkrupp Uhde.

“We are the only SAF developer in the UK at the moment, and by the project goes live, we’ll likely be the first company in the world implementing this particular technology at an industrial scale,” says Peschkoff.

The technology addresses a critical challenge in biomass gasification by using torrefied biomass, which becomes similar to coal after processing. “Once you get torrefied biomass, which is equivalent of char producing pyrolysis, it becomes almost like coal,” explains Peschkoff. “Coal gasification has been successfully deployed for several decades … One of the gasifiers developed by thyssenkruppe [a BioTfueL partner] has been operational 24-7 for almost two decades. So we already have a proven process in one way.”

Another crucial advantage is the integrated nature of the technology. Unlike competitors who must combine separate technologies from different providers – exposing them to integration risks – GRAMM’s approach uses a single licensor covering the complete production chain.

“With BioTFueL, we’re getting a single licensor, which covers a complete end-to-end chain, from raw biomass all the way to SAF,” he emphasises. “This is the only commercially viable solution on the market where complete production chain is covered by a single performance guarantee, single warranty.”

GRAMM’s business model revolves around carbon intensity (CI) and the UK SAF mandate’s multiplier system, which rewards producers for lower carbon intensity. “We’re not dependent on government subsidies. It’s a purely commercial model and everything revolves around carbon intensity and the multiplier,” Peschkoff tells us.

This approach allows them to earn four SAF certificates for each ton of physical SAF produced, effectively quadrupling their market impact. “By 2035, 1mt in SAF certificates, not physical SAF, is the equivalent of 53% of total UK SAF obligations,” Peschkoff claims.

For feedstock, GRAMM is focusing on woody biomass – forestry residue and waste wood – along with palm kernel shells. At full capacity, the facility would require 1.5m tons of biomass per annum.

While the consortium has engaged with several investors for later project stages, the pre-FEED (Front End Engineering Design) phase presents a unique challenge. “Most of the investors we are in discussions with have a minimum ticket size. For them, it’s around $25m. In our case, pre-FEED is between $5-6m,” Peschkoff explains.

To address that, GRAMM recently filed for funding from the UK’s Advanced Fuels Fund. The funds will enable the consortium to move from planning to implementation stage. “AFF support will propel UK sustainable aviation forward,” says Peschkoff.

If successful with its application, GRAMM plans to start pre-FEED from July of this year, completing it by February 2026. It aims to reach a final investment decision by the end of 2026, with construction taking about two and a half years. The first SAF production is targeted for late 2029 or early 2030 – aligning with the period when UK SAF mandate obligations reach significant volumes.

By 2035, GRAMM expects to produce 250,000t of carbon-negative SAF annually.

Peschkoff says they are ready to advance the project to transform both aviation and development in the north west of England, where the government recently gave a green light to the high-profile HyNet carbon sequestration project.