Airbus has announced an investment in sustainable fuels technology company and producer, LanzaJet, as it continues its push for the global development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
This investment will support the development of the Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) pathway, an important step required to produce SAF at scale.
The announcement made at Farnborough Airshow on July 24, 2024, will enable LanzaJet to further expand its capability and capacity to scale its proprietary ethanol-to-SAF process technology.
“Sustainable aviation fuels are one of the most important levers available to decarbonize aviation, but their production is still limited. Our partnership with LanzaJet demonstrates Airbus’ commitment to work with leading energy technology suppliers to explore innovative production pathways and scale SAF,” said Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Airbus.
Kitcher added: “This important partnership with LanzaJet underlines the importance of new technologies and cross-sector collaboration to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.”
LanzaJet’s technology uses low-carbon ethanol to create SAF that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% compared to fossil fuels on a lifecycle basis and can further decrease emissions with a suite of carbon reduction technologies.
SAF produced through LanzaJet’s ATJ technology is an approved drop-in fuel compatible with existing aircraft engines and associated infrastructure.
“LanzaJet intentionally developed a diverse portfolio of strategic investors consisting of leading, global companies to ensure we have the ecosystem to scale the SAF industry,” Jimmy Samartzis, CEO at LanzaJet, said. “This important investment from Airbus supports the growth of our company, enabling LanzaJet to scale the production and deployment of SAF to continue working towards meeting aviation’s decarbonization goals and developing a more sustainable industry.”
LanzaJet is currently starting up the world’s first commercial-scale production of ethanol-to-SAF at LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels in the United States (US).
For all the latest updates and developments at Farnborough Airshow 2024 follow AeroTime’s live blog.