In the United States (US), Breakthrough Energy Catalyst has announced a US$75 million project equity investment commitment to support power-to-liquids (PtL) technology- and project developer Infinium Holdings Inc. (Infinium) in its Project Roadrunner, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
The aviation industry accounts for approximately 2–3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) annually and faces unique challenges when it comes to reducing emissions.
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) offer a critical tool to decarbonize aviation with existing aircraft currently in use around the world.
Project Roadrunner will convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) and renewable power into eSAF and other low-carbon fuels.
Once operational, this first-of-a-kind commercial-scale Power-to-Liquids (PtL) eFuels facility is expected to be the largest PtL eFuels project in North America.
The investment from Catalyst is critical to accelerating the completion of Project Roadrunner and to the delivery of significant volumes of eFuels created from waste carbon dioxide and renewable power. Importantly, this project will serve as a template for other, larger eFuels plants under development. The groundbreaking commercial agreement with American is an important prototype for the aviation industry as its firm offtake agreement supports project financing, providing revenue certainty for the project, said Robert Schuetzle, CEO at Infinium.
Investing in first-of-a-kind projects
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst funds and invests in first-of-a-kind projects that support the deployment of emerging climate technologies to reduce emissions and accelerate the clean energy transition.
This commitment to project Roadrunner represents Catalyst’s first equity investment to date.
Located in West Texas, Project Roadrunner will convert an existing brownfield gas-to-liquids project into a fully integrated eFuels facility that will deliver products to domestic and international markets.
It will primarily produce Infinium eSAF, which is expected to reduce lifecycle GHG emissions in aviation by around 90 percent, higher than the emissions reductions achieved using SAF on the market today.
Project Roadrunner will also produce Infinium eNaphtha for use in plastics manufacturing and Infinium eDiesel for use in hard-to-electrify transportation methods, such as long-haul trucking and maritime applications.
This project is a landmark achievement for the development of sustainable aviation fuels and the offtake agreement provides a model for the entire aviation industry of one way to effect change and support the scale-up of capital-intensive projects. Infinium’s technological and commercial maturity, coupled with the company’s project development expertise, will help accelerate the clean energy transition by quickly bringing to market clean fuels for aviation, trucking, and other long-distance parts of the transportation sector. American’s creativity, commitment, and collaboration with Citi, have set a new marker, demonstrating what it takes to usher in a climate-friendly aviation future, said Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst.
Offtake agreement
In tandem with Catalyst’s investment in Infinium, American Airlines and Infinium have entered into an innovative, firm offtake agreement for Infinium eSAF.
This agreement is a critical enabler of further investment in Project Roadrunner. American Airlines joined Breakthrough Energy Catalyst as an anchor partner to accelerate the development of next-generation clean energy technologies, including SAF.
The Catalyst team worked to develop the agreement alongside the American Airlines and Infinium teams.
The agreement provides one model for how airlines can use offtake agreements to help promising new SAF technologies attract investment dollars.
American joined Breakthrough Energy Catalyst because we saw the potential to accelerate the commercialization of the clean energy technologies of the future. Today, we see the realization of that potential in Catalyst’s investment in Infinium’s electro-fuels SAF, coupled with American’s long-term commitment to purchase those fuels. Our partnership with Catalyst – and our new commitment with Infinium – exemplifies the novel collaboration necessary to bring to market the new technologies that will allow us to decarbonize, said Jill Blickstein, American’s Chief Sustainability Officer at American Airlines.
In further support of this offtake agreement, Citi and American Airlines have separately agreed to transfer the associated emission reductions to Citi to support the scaling of this innovative technology and help reduce a portion of Citi’s Scope 3 emissions from employee travel.
Citi is also a partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst.
Citi is proud to work with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, American Airlines, and Infinium in this effort to support the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel. Infinium’s eSAF technology is the latest example of innovation and growth in the climate solutions space. We hope the offtake arrangement with American, where we combine their direct use of SAF with our indirect use through our business travel, will serve as one model for how offtake agreements can be used to help scale up future solutions for low-emissions air travel, said Val Smith, Citi’s Chief Sustainability Officer.
Infinium has numerous eFuels projects in development across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and Australia.
