UAV invests US$15M in Canadian CCR tech firm

This is the latest announced investment from the new UAV “Sustainable Flight Fund”, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle that is designed to leverage support from cross-industry businesses in order to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel through sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) research, technology, and production.

The airline aims to be 100 percent green by reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 100 percent by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets.

To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion (US) gallons (≈ 11.4 million litres) of SAF – the most of any airline in the world.

Svante provides materials and technology as part of the value chain that has the potential to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) removed from the atmosphere and from industrial emission sources into SAF.

Carbon capture technology has the potential to be a critical solution in the fight to stop climate change and has the added benefit of helping us scale the production of SAF, said Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines.

And at United, we’re building on that approach by investing in both companies that can capture CO₂ and others that can turn it into fuel. There’s no question that this carbon utilization is in its infancy today, but as a leader in sustainable flying we must help build the foundation to deploy this technology of the future as expediently as possible. This is truly a global imperative, and United’s investment in Svante reflects our dedication to making sustainable travel a reality, Scott Kirby added.

This investment was made as part of Svante’s Series E financing round and will fund and support Svante’s commercial-scale filter manufacturing facility in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Svante is working with world-leading organizations, including Dimensional Energy, a carbon utilization company – CO₂ to jet fuel – that UAV invested in last year.

We are pleased to have the support of United Airlines as one of our world-class investors,” The airline industry has a huge opportunity to make a big impact on global decarbonization – battling climate change through the transition to sustainable aviation fuels and other innovative technologies that will help the world achieve net zero. Their investment in companies like ours will aid in accelerating the commercialization of carbon capture and removal technology, said Claude Letourneau, President and CEO of Svante.

Scalable and commercially available sorbent

Svante’s scalable, eco-friendly, and commercially available carbon capture and removal (CCR) technology employs structured absorbent beds, known as filters.

These filters can capture 95 percent of CO₂ emissions from industrial sites as well as CO2 that’s already in the air.

Once the CO₂ is captured, it is concentrated and can be used in the creation of SAF or other products, or it can also be safely transported and stored underground.

Svante’s manufacturing facility is anticipated to produce enough filter modules to capture millions of tonnes of CO₂ per year across hundreds of large-scale carbon capture facilities.

It’s great to see United’s commitment to building an ecosystem for CO₂ to SAF manifest through this significant investment in Svante. The teams at Svante and Dimensional Energy are working together to design integrated systems for captured CO₂ to SAF today. There is enough CO₂ in the atmosphere and in industrial process emissions to provide all of the carbon necessary for the fuels and products people use every day now and into the future. Svante provides the first step toward a circular carbon economy, said Jason Salfi, CEO at Dimensional Energy.