Aether Fuels has announced the successful construction, commissioning and operation of its fully integrated demonstration line, including the production of synthetic aviation fuel that meets ASTM D7566 specifications, the international standard for synthetic jet fuel.
The milestone marks a significant step in the commercialisation of the company’s Aurora™ technology platform and advances its plans for large-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) deployment.
The demonstration line utilised Aether’s 2.5 barrel-per-day Aurora Tri-Converter and Aurora Upgrader units, integrated with RTI’s existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Fuel was produced using mass-balanced renewable natural gas (RNG) derived from landfill gas generated in Kentucky and industrial CO2 as feedstocks, covering the complete conversion process from waste-derived gas feedstocks to fully upgraded synthetic liquid jet fuel.
According to Aether, it is the first company in North America to produce ASTM-specification synthetic aviation fuel from mass-balanced RNG and captured industrial CO2 at this scale.
Independent third-party testing by AmSpec confirmed that fuel samples produced during the demonstration met the applicable ASTM specifications for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK). Under ASTM D7566, fuels meeting this specification can be blended with conventional kerosene at levels of up to 50% without requiring modifications to aircraft tanks, pipelines or airport fuelling infrastructure.
“This demonstration proves Aether’s ability to scale up our integrated Aurora platform, take a feedstock through the complete end-to-end process, and produce on-spec synthetic aviation fuel. It is the culmination of over a year of hard work by Aether’s R&D team and is a tremendous milestone,” said Dhaval Shah, Chief Technology Officer at Aether Fuels. “Just as importantly, the data from this demonstration informs and de-risks the design of our 50 BPD Project Beacon plant in Singapore, as we continue rapid journey to large scale commercial deployment.”
The achievement builds on Aether’s previously reported standalone demonstration of its Tri-Converter unit with GTI Energy and represents the latest stage in the company’s progression from laboratory development to commercial deployment.
The demonstration also provides technical validation ahead of Project Beacon, Aether’s planned commercial project in Singapore, which is expected to produce 2,000 metric tons of SAF per year, equivalent to 50 barrels per day.
Aether said it is also developing a pipeline of larger commercial projects that will follow Project Beacon and produce ASTM D7566-compliant sustainable aviation fuel with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions of more than 70% compared with conventional fossil jet fuel.
“This is exciting progress for Aether as we march forward towards commercial deployment,” said Conor Madigan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Aether Fuels. “We started by systematically demonstrating each part of the Aurora platform at the pilot scale, then scaled our novel technology up more than 50X in standalone demo units, and in this most recent demonstration, brought these demo units together in an integrated line that produces ASTM spec jet fuel. This is a significant achievement and puts us on the right track to successfully build and operate Project Beacon and the commercial projects that will follow.”
Founded in 2022, Aether Fuels develops technologies that convert waste carbon into liquid fuels for hard-to-abate sectors including aviation and shipping. The company has offices in the US and Singapore.
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