Metafuels is on a mission to change the landscape of sustainable jet fuel, and it recently collected a $8 million suitcase from baggage carousel 3 at its local ZRH. Zurich, how I miss you. With its new aerobrew fuel, the company is literally turning the sky green. Sure, it sounds like a French press or a boomerang, but the company has a couple of tricks up its sleeve, including the development of sustainable aviation fuel made from renewable electricity — eSAF, among others.
The company’s primary output is jet fuel, and it has purchased a ticket to produce jet fuel that meets aviation standards. That’s a tall order, given that the fuel must function in a variety of hostile environments, including the freezing cold of the high and blue, the sweltering heat of a Houston airstrip, and everything in between.
“Operational safety is paramount from fuel handling on the ground to high-altitude combustion performance,” notes Leigh Hackett, co-founder and CCO at Metafuels.
By 2030, the company hopes to have a viable 100% synthetic jet fuel substitute that will integrate seamlessly into existing global renewable energy systems, providing an energy solution that operates outside of traditional fossil fuel supply chains. LanzaJet is a competitor in this market.
The new $8 million investment significantly strengthens Metafuels’ ambitious plans. The rising cost of conventional fuels, impending environmental taxation, and increasing stakeholder pressure for sustainability are all factors that the company believes will offset the initial production costs of its ISAF. Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures led the round.
Using a process they developed to convert green methanol to eSAF, Metafuels’ eSAF technology enables a seamless transition away from fossil-based kerosene. Methanol is made from hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide that is sourced sustainably. In the short term, green H2 can be produced through water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, and CO2 can be captured from biogenic sources such as waste and residue. The long-term plan is to begin direct air capture, which strikes me as wonderfully poetic: capture gas, load it into planes that fly through the air, and then release it back into the air.
It could be an interesting stepping stone until battery or hydrogen-powered planes take off in earnest — the magic of Metafuels’ aerobrew, according to the company, is that it can fuel aircraft without modification.
“Once we get past the building blocks of selecting sustainably sourced carbon and hydrogen, we’re into relatively straightforward though groundbreaking technology to convert those components into jet fuel.” says Saurabh Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Metafuels. “Then, because it’s a form of kerosene, you can use the same pipelines, infrastructure, storage, transportation and aircraft.”
