United Airlines agrees to take 1bn gallons of SAF from Cemvita

Cemvita Corporation has announced an offtake agreement with United Airlines for up to 1bn gallons of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). It will provide United Airlines with 50m gallons of SAF annually for 20 years.

The Houston company makes SAF by extracting carbon dioxide from the air. It opened its eCO2 pilot plant in April. Cemvita says that it can produce SAF for a similar cost to SAF made from HEFA feedstocks and fuels, once commercial production begins.

“We are thrilled to partner with United Airlines in working towards transforming the aviation industry and accelerating the energy transition,” said Moji Karimi, CEO, Cemvita. “This agreement featuring our unique SAF platform is a major milestone towards demonstrating our journey to full commercialisation.”

United Airlines Ventures invested $5m in Cemvita in March 2022.

“Since our initial investment last year, Cemvita has made outstanding progress, including opening their new pilot plant – an important step towards producing sustainable aviation fuel,” said Michael Leskinen, president, United Airlines Ventures. “United is the global aviation leader in SAF production investment, but we face a real shortage of available fuel and producers. Cemvita’s technology represents a path forward for a potentially significant supply of SAF and it’s our hope that this offtake agreement for up to one billion gallons is just the beginning of our collaboration.”

United Airlines also has SAF agreements with World Energy (since 2016) and NESTE (since 2022).