Swiss startup bets on clean-fuel tech to cut costs for airlines

A Swiss startup is betting on an emerging technology to make synthetic jet fuel that it says will one day lower the cost of using cleaner fuels. Metafuels AG, whose backers include Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures, says methanol-to-jet tech offers higher emissions savings than alternative sustainable aviation fuels, reducing the volume of SAF that an airline will have to buy to meet green targets set by regulators. Climate goals mean European airlines will need to slowly start cutting their consumption of jet fuel made from crude oil from 2025. Metafuels hopes that methanol-to-jet technology will be accredited by early next year, when a demonstration plant it’s building in Switzerland is due to start operating. A larger plant in Denmark announced last week with a partner is a longer-term plan. “Methanol-to-jet is a promising option, not least as it is compatible with existing infrastructure, so can be quickly integrated,” said Elena Scaltritti, CCO at Danish engineering company Topsoe. Still, such technologies will need to be “coupled with a significant build-out of renewable power capacity” to be able to make the e-SAF, she said. SAF currently costs several times more than conventional jet fuel derived from oil. On a recent earnings call, Lufthansa’s CEO cited the cleaner type of airplane fuel among cost headwinds it’s facing from next year.<br/>