Aether reports breakthrough in its Aurora technology

Chicago-based sustainable fuels technology company Aether Fuels said that it has achieved a breakthrough in its proprietary Aurora solution by proving that its electric Tri-Converter demonstration has a capacity that is more than 50 times larger than the previously demonstrated.

“This is an exciting milestone for Aether and a tribute to our R&D experts and our partners at GTI Energy. The aviation and ocean shipping industries need affordable sustainable fuels at scale and the electric Tri-Converter technology is a transformative step forward. It drives critical process simplification and enables cost-efficient feedstock flexibility.  When integrated into our Aether Aurora solution we’re making SAF production more scalable and cost effective,” said Conor Madigan, CEO, Aether.

The electric tri-converter converts waste carbon feedstocks into the syngas. The demo was to prove that the electric tri-converter can continuously produce syngas at an increasingly larger scale using a mix of real-world feedstocks, including biogenic CO2, renewable natural gas (RNG), and green hydrogen.

The programme is part of Aether’s program to build and operate a fully integrated demonstration plant producing more than one barrel per day of sustainable fuels.

Aether plans to complete the construction of the Demo Plant later this year.

The demonstrator is a joint project between Aether and GTI Energy.

Aether optimizes the FT process to create drop-in liquid hydrocarbons using its novel electric Tri-Converter and Upgrading technologies.

This is achieved via catalysts and a reactor that uses electricity instead of combustion to generate the reaction heat. Where typical syngas production requires multiple reactors to convert the same mix of inputs, Aether Aurora employs just one which reduces CAPEX while the electrification innovations generate higher energy efficiency and yields than a conventional combustion reactor.

Earlier in June last year, the company raised $34m in Series A financing from a syndicate to scale development of renewable fuels for aviation and marine sectors.

The round was led by AP Ventures, which also includes Chevron Technology Ventures, CDP Venture Capital and Zeon Ventures. Series Seed lead investor Xora Innovation and other existing investors TechEnergy Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Foothill Ventures and JetBlue Ventures also participated.