Metafuels builds first pilot plant on the PSI campus

Founded in 2021 by Leigh Hackett, Saurabh Kapoor and Ulrich Koss and based on more than a decade of research, Metafuels is developing an efficient process for producing affordable synthetic kerosene from renewable resources. The company aims to produce high-quality aviation fuel using water, renewable electricity and sustainably sourced carbon dioxide. Its product aerobrew, is a new proprietary technology that converts green methanol to SAF, to close the carbon cycle and achieve net zero in air transport. The technology provides a route to large-scale production of so-called e-kerosene, with high SAF selectivity and yields, overcoming the scale up challenges and high costs of alternative routes primarily based on Fischer-Tropsch technology. The sustainable alternative is compatible with existing jet engines, either as a blend to traditional fossil-based kerosene or, eventually, as a primary fuel.

“Compared with traditional fuel, our technology has the potential to reduce life cycle carbon emissions by 80 to 95 percent depending on the production site,” explains Saurabh Kapoor, co-founder of Metafuels. The carbon dioxide required for the technology is sourced either from direct air capture (DAC) or from non-food biomass such as forestry or crop residues. Water electrolysis produces green hydrogen using renewable electricity such as from wind or solar facilities. “We use hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce synthetic kerosene via intermediary green methanol.”

Together with the researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the Metafules team has engineered a catalytic process that refrains from using of fossil feedstocks and offers superior selectivity – improving the yield/conversion as compared to alternative sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technologies. Furthermore, the solution enables renewable energy to be used more efficiently than in alternative SAF processes.

As part of their newly inked partnership agreement, PSI and Metafuels scientists want to use aerobrew to close the carbon cycle and achieve net zero in air transport. Metafuels and PSI are now progressing to the next phase of the project, during which a pilot plant will be constructed and operated. SAF produced using aerobrew™ technology has the potential to provide a lifecycle carbon reduction of 80% or more compared to the traditional jet fuel it replaces. Because the aerobrew process is designed to be efficient – allowing for a plant close to aviation fuel markets and green methanol production near to the sources of renewable electricity – it maximises the opportunity to reduce carbon footprint through the production process.

The pilot plant will take the form of two container modules to be installed at the ESI platform on the PSI campus and integrated into the existing infrastructure (see image). The objective is to validate the technology so that it can be prepared for large-scale commercial use in the near future.

Metafuels is will be funding the project. Further financial details remain undisclosed.

(Press release/RAN)
Photo by PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic: Leigh Hackett (left) and Saurabh Kapoor (right) from Metafuels and Marco Ranocchiari from PSI (centre) at the ESI platform.