Adliswil ZH/Villigen AG – Metafuels has received 8 million dollars in a financing round. The climate tech start-up has developed the green aviation fuel aerobrew with the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). A pilot plant will be built on the site in 2024 with the fresh capital.
The Adliswil-based company Metafuel hasannounced that it has received 8 million dollars in a financing round. It was led by Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures. The fresh funds will enable the construction of a pilot plant at PSI in 2024. A pilot plant for sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) produced with renewable energy called aerobrew is to be built there to test the new fuel and prepare for scaling up. “This is a technology validation facility where we use all the technology,” Metafuels co-founder Saurabh Kapoor is quoted as saying in a press release from “Forbes”.
In collaboration with the Metafuels team, researchers at PSI have developed a catalytic process for the production of aerobrew. “We produce green methanol from hydrogen and carbon dioxide,” says Kapoor in a PSI press release. This green methanol is in turn the starting material for synthetic kerosene. The carbon dioxide required for the technology comes either directly from the air or from non-food biomass such as wood or other plant waste.
Metafuels’ eSAF can reportedly replace normal kerosene without any modifications to the aircraft, regardless of the size and type of aircraft and whether it is used for short or long-haul flights. Aerobrew is designed to reduce emissions by up to 90 percent. According to Metafuels, the company’s approach achieves the lowest production costs and an extremely high yield compared to its competitors. According to Kapoor, aerobrew will thus “help airlines to fulfill their obligations and the requirements of their stakeholders while remaining competitive”. ce/mm
