Sacramento company aims to make new fuel to help airlines meet looming emission standards

A Sacramento company hopes to become a significant player in providing sustainable aviation fuel to airlines after receiving $75 million in new funding.

The funding announced last month makes Infinium the latest company to announce it will offer its version of green jet fuel to help airlines reduce their carbon emissions.

The money for the so-called Project Roadrunner comes from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, the investment company founded by Bill Gates to invest in climate change solutions.

The project involves the conversion of a natural gas processing plant in rural West Texas to a facility making large qualities of sustainable aviation fuels, which are non-petroleum based.

“The investment from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is critical to accelerating the completion of Project Roadrunner,” said Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle.

He said the fuel produced at the plant will reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel by 90% because it doesn’t use polluting fossil fuels.

Shuetzle said that reconstruction of the plant in Reeves County, Texas, population 15,000, will take two years.

American Airlines has also announced that it will buy sustainable jet fuel from Infinium, which Schuetzle said is a crucial part of the deal. He said having American as a customer will enable Infinium to raise future funds for Project Roadrunner.

American Airlines officials didn’t respond to inquiries about how much sustainable fuel it will buy from Infinium.

Schuetzle said the agreement doesn’t specify a volume level.

“I would say compared to American’s overall fuel use, it’s not a huge percentage,” he said.

Schuetzle said what was significant was that American had made a commitment to buy sustainable fuel from the company over a long time period.

HQ in Sacramento

Infinium has its corporate headquarters in downtown Sacramento and a research and manufacturing facility in West Sacramento.

Schuetzle said 35 workers are employed at the two facilities combined while another 35 work in Texas and other locations globally.

He said the West Sacramento facility manufactures a small pellet that fosters the chemical reaction to make the jet fuel in Texas.

He said the pellets are also used at a plant in Corpus Christi,Texas, where Infinium manufactures sustainable fuel for the trucking industry and another green fuel for the plastics manufacturing industry.

Airlines want sustainable fuel

The airline industry has set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, relying on sustainable fuel, making up 65% of the fuel mix.

Current industry standards require sustainable fuel to be mixed in with regular jet fuel.

Competitors to Infinium are using various products to produce sustainable jet fuel, including oils and fats, green and municipal waste and non-food crops, said Joshua Heyne, director of the bioproducts, sciences and engineering lab at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

He said in the future, one technology may prevail, which could determine which companies succeed or fail.

Heyne said aviation accounts for around 2.5% to 3.5% of global emissions but the number is bound to rise as other aspects of society decarbonize, such as in the shift to electric cars.

In any case, he said, it will be difficult for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel to meet airline industry demand.

Heyne said he expects 700 million to 1.1 billion gallons of sustainable fuel to be produced over the next decade.

That supply won’t dent demand, he said, because the aviation industry in the U.S. currently uses around 26 billion gallons a year.

Heyne said it’s understandable why Infinium and other competitors are fighting for their slice of the pie in a marketplace for sustainable aviation fuel that will continue to grow.

He said the need for sustainable jet fuel will only be larger in the future.

“Air travel is expected to grow substantially over the next several decades,” he said.