How OXCCU is Turning Waste Carbon into Sustainable Aviation Fuel

By Abdul Ahad NazakatReviewed by Laura ThomsonJul 30 2025

The aviation industry faces pressure to cut carbon emissions while air travel demand continues to grow. OXCCU, a company spun out from the University of Oxford, has developed a process that converts captured carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen directly into jet fuel in a single step, rather than the multi-step methods typically used. The approach is designed to simplify production and potentially reduce costs.¹

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Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production has grown, but current volumes still fall well below the industry's needs. Most flights still run on conventional jet fuel, with SAF making up only a small percentage of total fuel use. This gap highlights the need for technologies that scale up production. OXCCU's approach treats carbon dioxide as a raw material rather than waste, which could help create a system where CO₂ gets recycled instead of released into the atmosphere.

OXCCU’s Technology: Single-Step Catalysis

OXCCU addresses a primary barrier to producing sustainable aviation fuels from captured CO₂: the high cost and complexity of conventional Power-to-Liquid (PtL) conversion. Traditional methods involve a two-step process, requiring an energy-intensive Reverse Water-Gas Shift (RWGS) reaction to convert CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO), followed by a separate Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis to create hydrocarbons.

OXCCU's proprietary iron-based catalyst makes this two-step process obsolete. Its patented, multifunctional design uses active sites on a single catalyst surface to perform functions simultaneously, directly converting CO₂ and green hydrogen into jet-fuel-range hydrocarbons.

This single-step consolidation reduces capital expenditure and operational complexity. The process also yields fuel with minimal oxygenated byproducts, which enhances overall efficiency and maximizes the conversion of inputs into valuable fuel.

From Demonstration to Commercial Scale

The company's OX1 demonstration plant at Oxford Airport validates this technology, producing approximately 1.2 liters of its branded OX•EFUEL™ daily.² While a proof-of-concept, the modular design is built for scaling.

OXCCU is planning its next phase: a 200-liter-per-day OX2 plant at Saltend Chemicals Park, supported by a £2.8 million grant from the UK government's Advanced Fuels Fund.³ This next step is important for proving the technology's viability at a pre-commercial scale and reducing risks for future investments.

The Competitive Landscape

OXCCU's technology enters a market with established SAF production pathways. Understanding these alternatives highlights the unique value proposition of its PtL approach.

• Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA): This is currently the most mature and dominant SAF pathway, accounting for the vast majority of production. It uses waste feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal fats. While commercially viable, HEFA faces significant scalability constraints due to the limited global supply of these waste oils.
• Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ): This pathway converts alcohols like ethanol and isobutanol into jet fuel. Although ATJ offers a broader feedstock base than HEFA, it can still face land-use competition if it relies on purpose-grown energy crops.

Compared to these methods, OXCCU's PtL process offers two fundamental advantages. Firstly, its feedstocks, captured CO₂ and green hydrogen, are geographically independent and theoretically abundant, decoupling fuel production from agricultural constraints. Secondly, when powered by renewable electricity and utilizing CO₂ from Direct Air Capture (DAC), it offers a pathway to a circular, carbon-neutral fuel with no land-use impact.

Market Impact and Investors

The SAF market is experiencing substantial growth. The global market, valued at USD 882.13 million in 2024, is projected to reach USD 64,187.6 million by 2033.⁴

In the United States, policy incentives are creating demand for SAF production. The U.S. Department of Energy's "Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge" catalyzes a domestic industry capable of producing 3 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030, supported by tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.⁵

OXCCU's potential to produce cost-competitive SAF has attracted investors.  United Airlines Ventures' involvement directly connects to a major customer and industry expertise. The investment from Aramco Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, signals confidence from a global energy company and brings experience in scaling complex chemical processes and infrastructure projects.³

Challenges on the Path to Scale

Despite its potential, OXCCU and the broader PtL industry face significant hurdles to widespread adoption. The primary challenge is the cost and availability of green hydrogen. Produced through electrolysis powered by renewable energy, green hydrogen is currently expensive and in limited supply. The final cost of PtL SAF is highly sensitive to the price of this key input. For OXCCU's process to become cost-competitive with conventional jet fuel, a large scale-up of renewable energy generation and a corresponding reduction in green hydrogen production costs are essential.

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Building commercial-scale PtL plants requires significant capital investment. Although OXCCU's single-step process reduces this burden compared to two-step systems, the upfront cost for a facility producing millions of gallons of SAF annually remains high. Securing this level of financing depends on long-term offtake agreements from airlines and sustained, predictable regulatory support.

OXCCU’s Future Roadmap

OXCCU's strategy is centered on a phased, modular approach to scaling. A key milestone in this roadmap is the development of its OX2 plant.

In 2024, OXCCU formally partnered with px Group, a leading energy infrastructure operator, to site the plant at the strategic Saltend Chemicals Park in the UK.⁶ This move from a small-scale airport facility to an industrial chemical hub is an important step toward commercialization, providing access to shared infrastructure and a skilled workforce.

In January 2025, OXCCU was named on the Cleantech Group's 2025 Global Cleantech 100, recognizing its progress in scaling operations and partnerships, including the OX1 plant launch and the OX2 project.⁷

This recognition underscores OXCCU's role in advancing sustainable aviation fuels from captured CO₂.

OXCCU plans to have its first commercial plants running by the late 2020s, which aligns with new regulations such as the EU's ReFuelEU Aviation mandate that will require airlines to use more sustainable fuel.

The SAF market is expected to grow to 12 million tons by 2030, creating demand for companies that can scale up production.

Whether OXCCU can meet these timelines will depend on solving the current cost and technical challenges, but the regulatory push gives companies like OXCCU a clearer path to market. ⁸

OXCCU: The Future of Sustainable SAF?

OXCCU's technology for producing sustainable aviation fuels from captured CO₂ offers a practical approach to reducing aviation's carbon footprint.

The company has developed a pathway to producing SAF that does not rely on agricultural feedstocks by combining a complex, two-step conversion into a single catalytic reaction.

The process still faces real challenges, particularly the high cost of green hydrogen, which affects the economics of the entire system.

OXCCU's partnerships with airlines and energy companies and its demonstration plant operations give it a foundation on which to build as it works toward a commercial scale.

As the company moves from demonstration to larger industrial operations, its progress will help show whether captured CO₂ can become a practical feedstock for aviation fuel.

Success would mean another option for an industry with few alternatives for reducing emissions. OXCCU's approach represents one piece of the puzzle in aviation's transition from fossil fuels.

References and Further Reading

1. OXCCU. (2024). Technology. https://www.oxccu.com/technology
2. Maddyness. (2024, August 12). OXCCU unveils OX1 plant: The world's first sustainable aviation fuel production facility at Oxford Airport. Maddyness. https://www.maddyness.com/uk/2024/08/12/oxccu-unveils-ox1-plant-the-worlds-first-sustainable-aviation-fuel-production-facility-at-oxford-airport/
3. Flight Global. (2024, September 20). Could OXCCU's perfect chemistry help to fuel aviation sector's transformation? Flight Global. https://www.flightglobal.com/aerospace/could-oxccus-perfect-chemistry-help-to-fuel-aviation-sectors-transformation/159928.article
4. Straits Research. (2024). Sustainable aviation fuel market size, share and forecast to 2033. https://straitsresearch.com/report/sustainable-aviation-fuel-market
5. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. (2024). Sustainable aviation fuel grand challenge. https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/sustainable-aviation-fuel-grand-challenge
6. Hydrocarbon Engineering. (2024, June 18). OXCCU and px Group announce new SAF project. Hydrocarbon Engineering. https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/18062024/oxccu-and-px-group-announce-new-saf-project/
7. OXCCU. (2025, January 15). OXCCU named on the 2025 Global Cleantech 100 [Press release]. https://www.oxccu.com/press-releases/oxccu-named-on-the-2025-global-cleantech-100
8. SkyNRG. (2024, June 12). SkyNRG releases Sustainable Aviation Fuel Market Outlook 2024. https://skynrg.com/skynrg-releases-sustainable-aviation-fuel-market-outlook-2024/
9. International Air Transport Association. (2024, June 2). SAF production to triple in 2024 but still falls short of need. https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2024-releases/2024-06-02-01/
10. Ritchie, H., Roser, M., & Rosado, P. (2020). CO₂ and greenhouse gas emissions. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions

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