Energy engineering firm Kent said it had been awarded a pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) contract for the Eq.flight power-to-liquid demonstration project.

The project, which secured £1m ($1.36m) in funding from the UK Department of Transport last year, plans to use solid oxide electrolysis, reverse water-gas shift, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and direct air capture technologies to produce SAF.

It will use nuclear electricity and heat as the energy source for the process, which the lead partner Equilibrion says could cut the fuel’s carbon intensity by 90–95% compared to conventional jet fuel.

While the demonstrator’s location and commissioning timeline remain undisclosed, Kent said the pre-FEED contract will see it develop an engineering design for the demonstration system.

Equilibrion co-founders, Caroline Longman and Phil Rogers, said in a joint statement that the phase would be critical to shape future commercial projects.

“We’re well-placed to deliver a robust and informative demonstration system,” they said.

The UK’s SAF mandate requires power-to-liquid fuels to make up 0.2% of fuels supplied at airports from 2028, increasing to 4.5% by 2040.

Despite increasing demand pulls for SAFs, scale-up of the fuels faces various bottlenecks – particularly those derived from green hydrogen.

High production costs driven by expensive electricity, limited eligible carbon dioxide sources, technology integration risks, and infrastructure constraints have all raised concerns.

While solid oxide electrolysis can use heat to improve efficiency, system durability, capital intensity, and nuclear integration costs will be deciding factors in the Eq.flight plans.