Carbon transformation company Twelve and fuel technology partner Emerging Fuels Technology (EFT) signed a Master License Agreement to support Twelve’s scaleup of its E-Jet fuel, a fossil-free sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced using the company’s carbon transformation technology in combination with EFT’s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Maxx Jet upgrading technology. (Earlier post.)

With aviation representing one of the most difficult-to-address sectors for emissions, Twelve is scaling E-Jet fuel manufacturing capacity to meet rapidly growing demand from customers looking to reach net zero climate goals.

Twelve has developed an efficient polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) CO₂ electrolyzer that uses proprietary CO₂-reducing catalysts to split CO₂ with just water and renewable electricity as inputs, syngas (CO and hydrogen) as the output, and pure oxygen as the only byproduct. Twelve and EFT upgrade the syngas to aviation fuel.

With up to 90% lower lifecycle emissions compared to conventional fuels, E-Jet fuel is a drop-in synthetic fuel that works with existing aircraft and uses CO₂ to provide a virtually limitless carbon source, offering a viable long-term solution for addressing emissions from the aviation industry.

Twelve’s first E-Jet fuel partner was the US Air Force, which tested fuel produced by Twelve and EFT in August 2021. Last year, Shopify, one of the largest corporate purchasers of long-term carbon removal, announced the first purchase of E-Jet fuel through the company’s Sustainability Fund. In July 2022, Twelve, Alaska Airlines and Microsoft announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on advancing the SAF market to include fuels derived from recaptured CO₂ and renewable energy, and working toward the first commercial demonstration flight in the United States powered by Twelve’s fossil-free fuel.

We’re excited to continue our work with Emerging Fuels Technology and use our partnership to support Twelve’s scaleup to meet customer demand for E-Jet fuel and other CO2Made products. EFT’s modular Fischer-Tropsch systems are highly compatible with our carbon transformation technology, which can be sited flexibly and scaled to any need.

—Nicholas Flanders, Co-Founder and CEO of Twelve