How chemical innovation could slash alternative fuel costs in aviation
Unifuel's single-reactor technology could transform the economics of cleaner jet fuel.
As the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry races to scale up production, one startup sees parallels to California's 1849 gold rush.
"Most people focused on mining for gold, whereas the real winners focused on unglamorous, neglected but highly lucrative service segments," says Alexei Beltyukov, CEO of Universal Fuel Technologies (Unifuel), whose company's novel chemical process aims to transform how SAF is produced.
Unifuel recently secured $3 million in seed funding from TO VC. Quoted in SAF Investor, managing partner Joshua Phitoussi cited the technology's potential to solve key industry challenges as a benefit:
"Today's SAF production is challenged by feedstock limitations and expense, which are problems Unifuel's FlexiForming solves.”
The funding will help establish lab space in Texas for SAF sample production and secure crucial ASTM certification.
The company's FlexiForming technology consolidates multiple chemical reactions into a single reactor, potentially reducing production costs by up to 50%. While traditional methods require moving materials between multiple reactors, FlexiForming performs all necessary chemical reactions in one vessel.
"The efficiency without getting into too many details comes through the fact that we can affect most of our chemical reactions in the same reactor," explains Beltyukov. "We don't need to move between the parts, which usually costs a lot."
Legacy aircraft drive need for aromatics
The timing could be critical. At the moment, SAF costs anywhere from two to five times of Jet A fuel, creating a significant barrier to adoption even as airlines face mounting pressure to reduce emissions.
FlexiForming can process various feedstocks, including ethanol, methanol, renewable naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and other alcohols and ethers.
A key technical advantage is its ability to produce aromatic molecules – something current SAF technologies struggle with. These aromatics are critical components that ensure proper seal function in legacy aircraft fuel systems and are required for accurate fuel measurement in aircraft tanks.
"The aromatic molecules are needed to keep the gaskets in the fuel transport system," explains Beltyukov. Current SAF technologies like HEFA and Fischer-Tropsch can't produce these aromatics in their main process, requiring additional costly steps to add them later. Without aromatics, airlines would need separate fueling systems for different aircraft – an impractical solution given there are around 25,000 legacy aircraft that require these molecules for their fuel seals and measurement systems.
Licensing model attracts industry interest
The technology has undergone over 5,000 hours of testing and is protected by 30 patents. Rather than building its own production facilities, Unifuel plans to license its technology to refiners and SAF producers, following a model similar to enterprise software licensing with recurring revenue from proprietary catalyst sales.
"We're now busy making the samples for SAF certification and preparing all the submissions to the ASTM Clearinghouse," says Beltyukov.
Their approach has already attracted attention from major players in both traditional energy and renewable fuels sectors. The company has signed a letter of intent for a 6,500-barrel-per-day ethanol-to-jet plant and is in discussions with several other potential customers.
"We're a complementary technology, not a replacement," says Beltyukov. "We can take the naphtha that is an inevitable byproduct of SAF production and convert that naphtha into the aromatic component of SAF. That can then be blended to the paraffinic SAF that the HEFA plant is making."
According to its pitch decks, the company projects that by 2030, it could generate $175 million in revenue, with $90 million of that being operating profit before accounting for financing costs and taxes. However, like many clean technology startups, Unifuel faces the challenge of scaling up while regulatory support, especially the future of the Inflation Reduction Act, remains uncertain.
Beltyukov draws parallels between renewable fuels and the early days of electric vehicles, believing that as the sector progresses, costs will come down and subsidies will be less important. "Today it is more of a marketing ploy slash toy for the rich, whatever Bill Gates is fueling his private jet, that kind of thing," he says. "But as we go more into it, and probably as we get a bit of support from governments of all sorts, the technologies will improve."
"There are situations even today where our technology can be competitive against fossil jet fuel," says Beltyukov. "They are very few... but the fact that already today this situation can be imagined gives you an indication that we're kind of on the way."