JetBlue, Aether Fuels sign MoU for SAF
Chicago-based climate technology company Aether Fuels announced that it has signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with JetBlue to supply sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the airline.
“JetBlue is a leader in proactively transitioning to SAF so their interest in the company and the Aether Aurora technology is gratifying,” said Conor Madigan, co-founder and CEO, Aether.
“For a disruptive technology like ours, early and informed input from potential users, including airlines, can accelerate the ramp from R&D to commercialisation. We are excited to engage with JetBlue and look forward to supporting their SAF vision.”
The MOU extends Aether’s relationship with JetBlue that began when its venture capital subsidiary, JetBlue Ventures, invested in Aether’s convertible note and Series A financings.
“Scaling up production of SAF is the essential challenge to solve for the decarbonization of aviation,” said Sara Bogdan, managing director of sustainability and ESG, JetBlue.
“Aether Fuels’ technology targets a key need. By enabling access to a much wider range of feedstocks than previously available, the new technology shows incredible promise to help SAF reach the commercial scale needed for the industry transition to renewable fuels. As our investment via JetBlue Ventures demonstrates, we are believers in the Aether technology and team, and we look forward to being part of that journey.”
Aether has developed a breakthrough technology that utilizes a diverse array of waste feedstocks to produce sustainable liquid fuels at a lower cost and greater scale than existing approaches.
Aether’s technology, known as Aether Aurora, utilises a range of waste carbon feedstocks that do not compete with food or feed value chains. This overcomes the supply constraints faced by many other SAF production processes that rely on a limited type of often-scarce or cost-constrained feedstocks.
The company’s technology, an enhanced version of the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, combines innovations in chemistry (catalysts), equipment (reactors), and novel process flow schemes that enable major process simplifications (intensification) when converting waste carbon streams, such as captured carbon dioxide, industrial waste gases, biogas and treated agricultural residues, into liquid hydrocarbons.
Aether, in partnership with GTI Energy, is constructing a 100 gallon-per-day (380l/day) pilot line that builds on the successful operation of an existing 1.5 gallon-per-day (6l/day) pilot line.
In parallel, Aether is developing a pipeline of commercial-scale production facilities. This includes projects in the US and Southeast Asia to produce SAF and other high-value sustainable liquid fuels in collaboration with select strategic partners.