Worley has completed the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase for Alfanar’s Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project in Teesside, marking a major milestone in the development of what is expected to become one of the world’s largest SAF production facilities.
The completion of FEED positions Lighthouse Green Fuels as the first SAF project in Europe to reach this level of engineering maturity, moving the development from the conceptual stage to a technically defined, execution-ready project.
The facility is set to be the UK’s first new commercial-scale refinery built since the 1960s and is expected to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable naphtha using sustainably sourced biomass feedstocks, including forestry and agricultural residues.
As the FEED delivery partner, Worley provided an integrated engineering solution covering key aspects of the project, including feedstock handling, gasification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, utilities, storage infrastructure, and potential integration with Teesside’s emerging carbon capture and storage (CCS) network.
The completion of the FEED phase confirms the facility’s engineering configuration and technical integration while providing greater clarity on project scope, costs, and delivery strategy ahead of a Final Investment Decision (FID), which Alfanar is targeting by the end of 2027. Commercial operations are expected to begin in 2032.
According to Alfanar, the completion of FEED represents a significant advancement not only for the Lighthouse Green Fuels project but also for the wider UK sustainable aviation fuel sector. The engineering phase is expected to reduce project risks and improve certainty around costs, scheduling, and project execution ahead of the investment decision.
Once operational, the facility is projected to produce approximately 180 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel and 30 million litres of renewable naphtha annually, supporting the aviation industry’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate the transition to lower-carbon fuels.
Worley described the completion of FEED as a key step in advancing Alfanar’s flagship SAF development towards execution. The company noted that the milestone demonstrates its ability to transform early-stage concepts into technically robust and deliverable projects, enabling complex energy transition developments to progress with greater confidence.
The FEED work was carried out by Worley’s UK team, with support from the company’s Global Integrated Delivery (GID) specialists based in India.
The Lighthouse Green Fuels project is expected to play an important role in the UK’s sustainable aviation fuel ambitions, contributing to domestic fuel production capacity while supporting broader decarbonisation goals within the aviation sector.
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