Following shortly after a similar offtake deal with US e-SAF startup Twelve, International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and LEVEL, has announced a 10-year agreement to purchase power-to-liquid aviation fuel, or e-SAF, from California-based Infinium. The volume and value of the deal were not disclosed, but the e-SAF will be produced at the clean-tech company’s Project Roadrunner plant, a former gas-to-liquids facility currently being converted in West Texas. Infinium says the plant will become the world’s biggest e-SAF facility once it is fully operational. The company has backing from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, and in September it raised a potential $1 billion through Brookfield Asset Management towards Roadrunner and the deployment of other e-fuel projects globally. It also has a strategic deal with American Airlines for delivery of commercial volumes starting in 2026.

“Long-term, bankable commitments like these are what drive the ability to ramp up production of e-SAF,” commented Robert Schuetzle, Infinium’s CEO, on the IAG agreement.

IAG claims its airlines used an estimated 12% of global SAF supplies last year. The new deal will enable the company to access Infinium’s e-SAF for any of its five airlines, which collectively operate 582 aircraft to more than 250 destinations in 91 countries.

“So far, we’re on track to deliver our 10% 2030 SAF goal,” said Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s Group Sustainability Officer, “and agreements with innovators like Infinium are key to reaching this target.”    

Aviation’s focus on e-SAF has intensified as global demand for SAF increases dramatically and as the EU prepares to activate a 2% fuel blending mandate for flights from its airports from 1 January. EU mandates will progressively escalate, climbing to 70% by 2050. Other governments, including the UK, are following, initially with mandates varying from 1% to 10% by 2030. Both the UK and EU SAF mandates will add a power-to-liquid requirement from 2028 and 2030 respectively.

Of the Infinium investment secured from Brookfield Asset Management, more than $200 million is earmarked for developments including Project Roadrunner and up to $850 million more for deployment of other Infinium e-fuel projects globally, all subject to pre-agreed metrics.

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst has also committed $75 million in project level equity to Project Roadrunner, its first announced equity investment. Breakthrough pulls together corporate and philanthropic organisations to expedite the use of new technologies by supporting clean technology innovation in commercial-scale projects.

American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier and a partner of multiple IAG airlines in the oneworld marketing alliance, has also entered a strategic partnership with Infinium to secure commercial volumes of e-SAF produced by Project Roadrunner.

Announcing their new deal, IAG and Infinium highlighted the abundance of CO2 either captured at the source of industrial production, extracted from biogenic waste or sucked directly from the atmosphere by giant fans.

“This new class of fuel is not encumbered by feedstock limitations, has a higher degree of emissions reduction versus conventional jet fuel, and has a relatively low land and water use footprint,” said the companies.

IAG’s Counsell urged regulators to focus on measures to encourage decarbonisation of air transport, rather than increase costs for the sector.

“Aviation as an industry is working hard to decarbonise and policy should focus on solutions such as SAF, rather than only increasing costs which risk affecting the competitiveness of the European aviation industry,” he said.  

“What the industry needs is additional policy support to attract funds to construct SAF plants and reduce aviation’s reliance on fossil fuels.”

The IAG-Infinium deal follows the formation of Project SkyPower by a high-profile coalition of European companies including airlines, airports, energy companies and financiers to advocate for development of an e-SAF industry in Europe.  

A report produced by the group in May argued that e-SAF is the most effective, and eventually the most affordable, pathway to low-carbon flight and urged governments to develop policies that reduced investment risk in infrastructure development and fuel production before SAF mandates are activated.

It also estimated that capital investment of €15 billion to €25 billion ($16-27bn) would be needed by 2030, and a further €3 billion to €5 billion annually to achieve the scale needed to meet ever-increasing SAF blending mandates.

“It typically takes five years for an e-SAF project between reaching final investment decision and being operational,” said the report. “Therefore, final investment decisions for e-SAF projects are needed by 2025 to start production by 2030.”

Photo: Infinium’s Project Roadrunner facility in West Texas

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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Two Californian e-fuel startups, Infinium and Twelve, have received a joint total of up to $1.7 billion in funding and investment to help accelerate production and availability of sustainable aviation fuel. Brookfield Asset Management has committed to invest more than $200 million in Infinium’s Project Roadrunner that is under development in West Texas and up to an additional $850 million for deployment of other Infinium eFuels projects globally, all subject to pre-agreed metrics. This marks Brookfield’s first direct investment in SAF and the investor will also serve as lead in Infinium’s Series C Preferred Stock Offering. Twelve has received $645 million in funding, which includes $400 million in project equity led by TPG Rise Climate, $200 million in Series C financing and an additional $45 million in credit facilities from funders in the renewable energy sector.

Infinium produces eSAF through a proprietary process that combines water, waste CO2 and renewable energy to produce drop-in eSAF as well as eDiesel and eNaphtha. The company recently announced a strategic deal with American Airlines, in which American will purchase commercial volumes of its eSAF starting in 2026 produced by Project Roadrunner.

“Brookfield is a tremendous partner and we are thrilled to secure this additional capital as we scale eSAF production to meet the overwhelming demand from the aviation industry,” said Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle.

“Our Project Pathfinder site was the first to bring commercial volumes of e-fuels to market and Project Roadrunner brings additional volumes to scale global supplies. As our airline partners continue to push for more SAF and decarbonisation options, Infinium remains committed to accelerating production to help meet those demands.”

Brookfield joins existing backer Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which previously committed $75 million in funding for Project Roadrunner.

“Our investment is structured to provide the capital Infinium needs to accelerate the production of SAF to meet the growing demand from corporate customers while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for us,” explained Jehangir Vevaina, Managing Partner at Brookfield, which has around $1 trillion of assets under management. “In addition to Roadrunner, Infinium has a large pipeline of well-positioned projects to help meet the demand for the structurally short e-fuels market, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the development of further e-fuel projects through follow-on investments.”

Infinium claims Project Pathfinder in Corpus Christi, Texas, is the world’s first commercial-scale facility making drop-in ready e-fuels for heavy transportation applications and chemical processes, and is the first in North America to produce e-fuels that have received ISCC PLUS certification. Pathfinder integrates Infinium’s novel fuel production technology using patented catalysts with on-site electrolysers, a state-of-the-art laboratory, logistics and delivery mechanics to produce, validate and distribute e-fuels in what it describes as fewer steps than others in the industry.

The company says it has more than a dozen additional projects under development across the United States, the EU, Japan and Australia.

Meanwhile, funding raised by Twelve will be used towards the completion of the company’s inaugural AirPlant One eSAF facility located in Moses Lake, Washington, which is expected to begin production in 2025. Twelve’s patented technology will be used to produce SAF derived from biogenic CO2, water and renewable energy sources, which achieves claimed lifecycle emissions up to 90% lower than conventional fossil jet fuel. Twelve recently raised $45 million in total loans from two lenders – the first a $25 million construction loan from clean energy investment firm Fundamental Renewables, the other a $20 million green loan from multinational bank SMBC.

TPG Rise Climate, a $7.3 billion climate impact fund, has now committed up to $400 million in project equity financing to support the development of future AirPlants, which will supply Twelve’s E-Jet fuel to customers like Alaska Airlines and IAG, parent company of British Airways.

“We are drawn to companies and founders that have developed and proven unique solutions to complex problems,” said Jonathan Garfinkel, Managing Partner at TPG Rise Climate. “Twelve is a clear leader in CO2 conversion technology, which is a core part of the power-to-liquids technology stack, and the process we believe represents the long-term scalable solution for SAF production.”

TPG is leading Twelve’s $200 million Series C round alongside Capricorn Investment Group and Pulse Fund. A number of new and existing investors participated in the round, including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and Alaska Airlines’ investment arm, Alaska Star Ventures.

“We are excited to be a part of this round of forward-looking funders to make a more sustainable future for aviation possible,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, SVP Public Affairs and Sustainability at Alaska Airlines. “Over the last several years we have appreciated getting to know the team at Twelve. Together we are building a multi-level partnership to expand supply, mature the market for SAF and to soon use their E-Jet fuel in our operations.”

Responded Nicholas Flanders, CEO at Twelve: “Our financing strategy has been to build a comprehensive capital stack that enables us to deliver product to customers at scale while continually driving down costs. We’re proud to work with visionary financing partners and collaborators who share our commitment to deploying first of a kind technologies that address climate change at scale.”

Photo: American Airlines expects to purchase commercial volumes of Infinium’s eSAF starting in 2026

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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E-fuels will be featured at Aviation Carbon 2024

American Airlines has expanded its decarbonisation activities, announcing new partnerships with two US-based start-ups – Infinium, an emerging producer of sustainable aviation fuels, and Graphyte, a carbon removal and storage company. Both new businesses are backed by Breakthrough Energy, the climate action investment group established by technology billionaire Bill Gates. American will be Graphyte’s first customer, purchasing 10,000 tons of carbon removal credits from early 2025. Through its Project Roadrunner initiative, Infinium plans commercial-scale production of power-to-liquid fuels, or eFuel, by collecting, combining and converting carbon dioxide and renewably-produced power. American has signed a “definitive” offtake agreement with Infinium, details of which were not disclosed.

Infinium’s Project Roadrunner will convert an existing brownfield gas-to-liquids project in West Texas into what the company claims will become North America’s largest eFuels facility, supplying both the US and international markets. The integrated plant will mainly produce eSAF, an aviation decarbonisation pathway which is projected to reduce lifecycle fuel emissions by about 90%. It will also manufacture eDiesel for use by the road freight and maritime sectors and eNaptha for plastics production. 

The American Airlines’ deal with Infinium, which the companies described as “a critical enabler of further investment in Project Roadrunner,” was announced alongside a $75 million investment in Infinium by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which supports first-of-a-kind projects that accelerate the use of climate technologies to cut harmful emissions and help to reduce the green premium. The Infinium deal, which is subject to “the satisfaction of certain closing conditions”, was Catalyst’s first equity investment.

American is a foundation partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, seeking to help drive the development of new clean energy technologies including SAF. To further support the eSAF offtake deal, American and US-based banking group Citi – also a partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst – agreed to transfer the associated emission reductions to the bank to support scaling of Infinium’s eSAF programme, as well as helping to offset Scope 3 emissions of air travel by its employees.

“American joined Breakthrough Energy Catalyst because we saw the potential to accelerate the commercialisation of the clean energy technologies of the future,” said Jill Blickstein, the airline’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “Today we see the realisation of that potential in Catalyst’s investment in Infinium’s electrofuels SAF, coupled with American’s long-term commitment to purchase those fuels. Our partnership with Catalyst, and our new commitment with Infinium, exemplifies the novel collaboration necessary to bring to market the new technologies that will allow us to decarbonise.”

Robert Schuetzle, CEO of Infinium, said the Catalyst investment was critical to accelerating Project Roadrunner and the delivery of significant volumes of eFuels produced by combining CO2 and renewable power. “The groundbreaking commercial agreement with American is an important prototype for the aviation industry as its firm offtake agreement supports project financing, providing revenue certainty for the project,” he said.

Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, added: “This project is a landmark achievement for the development of sustainable aviation fuels. The offtake agreement provides a model for the entire aviation industry of one way to effect change and support the scale up of capital-intensive projects. Infinium’s technological and commercial maturity, coupled with the company’s project development expertise, will help accelerate the clean energy transition by quickly bringing to market clean fuels for aviation, trucking and other long-distance parts of the transportation sector.”

Val Smith, Citi’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “We hope the offtake agreement with American, where we combine their direct use of SAF with our indirect use through our business travel, will serve as one model for how offtake agreements can be used to help scale up future solutions for low-emissions air travel.”

American’s second partnership is with carbon removal company Graphyte, which instead of extracting CO2 directly from the air, plans to transform existing carbon-holding biomass by-products, including crop and forestry waste, which contain CO2 already captured from the air through the natural process of photosynthesis. Through its Carbon Casting process, Graphyte secures the biomass waste, then dries and converts it into solid carbon blocks, which are sealed, stored underground and monitored to ensure no carbon leakage. The company then sells carbon credits as offsets, with American Airlines to be its first customer, purchasing 10,000 tons of permanent carbon removal from early 2025.

Backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Graphyte says its process is far less expensive than other carbon capture systems, which rely on large fans to extract CO2 from the atmosphere. Instead, says the company, “we returned to nature’s proven, efficient process for capturing carbon from the atmosphere – photosynthesis.”

The company dries the biomass, eliminating microbes and water which cause decomposition and enable captured carbon to escape. Carbon blocks are then created, sealed and permanently stored. The first commercial scale use of the technology will be at the company’s facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, though timing was not revealed.

“Carbon Casting lets nature efficiently do the work of capturing the CO2, then leverages engineering techniques to store it permanently,” explained Graphyte’s Founder and CEO Barclay Rogers. “This is a landmark agreement for both Graphyte and American Airlines. It demonstrates the growing demand for affordable and scalable high-quality carbon removal credits and the ability of Carbon Casting technology to make a significant impact in the fight against climate change in the very near term.”

The partnership fits American’s strategy of diversifying decarbonisation technologies to maximise its carbon emission reductions.

“American is focused on accelerating new, low-carbon technologies to reduce aviation’s climate impact,” explained Blickstein. “Hard-to-abate industries like aviation will need high-quality, permanent, affordable and scalable carbon credits, including removals, to achieve our emissions reduction goals. We are excited to work with Graphyte to help them scale their important new technology.” 

Photo: American Airlines

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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