Aether fuels demonstrates Aurora™ equipment SAF production

This demonstration line utilised Aether’s 2.5 bpd capacity Aether Aurora Tri-Converter and Aurora Upgrader units, integrated together with RTI’s existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor. The fuel was produced using mass-balanced renewable natural gas (RNG) derived from landfill gas generated in Kentucky and industrial CO₂ as feedstocks and included the complete conversion process from waste-derived gas feedstocks to fully upgraded synthetic liquid jet fuel. Aether is believed to be the first company in North America to produce ASTM-specification SAF from mass-balanced RNG and captured industrial CO₂ at this scale.

Independent third-party testing conducted by AmSpec confirmed that the fuel samples produced during this demo run met the applicable ASTM specifications for FT-SPK (Annex A1 for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesised Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK)). Under the ASTM D7566 standard, alternative fuels meeting this specification are approved for blending with conventional kerosene up to 50% without requiring modifications to existing aircraft tanks, pipelines, or airport fuelling systems. Additionally, because the FT-SPK route is already approved under the ASTM, no new ASTM certification is required.

“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 SAF. 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 of 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.”

Building towards commercial deployment

The demonstration builds on Aether’s previously reported stand-alone demonstration of the Tri-Converter unit with GTI Energy and represents the latest step in Aether’s progression from the lab to commercial deployment, and represents important technical validation ahead of Project Beacon, Aether’s planned 2000 tpy (50 bpd) commercial project in Singapore.

Aether has a pipeline of large commercial projects under development that will follow Project Beacon and produce ASTM D7566-compliant SAF with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions of over 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.”

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/30092026/aether-fuels-demonstrates-aurora-equipment-saf-production/