Aether Fuels has completed construction, commissioning and operation of an integrated demonstration line producing synthetic aviation fuel that meets ASTM D7566 specifications, Hydrocarbon Processing Biofuels reported. The run marks a step towards commercial deployment of the company’s Aurora technology, ahead of its planned Project Beacon plant in Singapore.
The line combined Aether’s 2.5 barrel-per-day Aurora Tri-Converter and Aurora Upgrader equipment with an existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor at RTI. Feedstocks comprised mass-balanced renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas generated in Kentucky, alongside industrial CO2. According to the report, the demonstration covered the entire conversion chain, taking waste-derived gas inputs through to upgraded synthetic liquid jet fuel rather than testing individual processing stages separately.
Independent testing by AmSpec found that samples from the run met the applicable requirements for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene, or FT-SPK, under Annex A1 of ASTM D7566. Fuel meeting that specification can be blended with conventional kerosene at up to 50%, without changes to aircraft tanks, pipelines or airport fuelling systems. The source also noted that the established FT-SPK pathway does not require a new ASTM certification.
Aether’s chief technology officer, Dhaval Shah, said the demonstration followed more than a year of work by its research and development team. He said the resulting data would inform the design and reduce technical risks for Project Beacon, which is planned to have capacity of 50 barrels per day, or 2,000 metric tonnes annually. The integrated run follows an earlier standalone demonstration of the Tri-Converter with GTI Energy.
Beyond Beacon, Aether has larger commercial projects under development. Hydrocarbon Processing Biofuels reported the company’s expectation that those projects would produce ASTM D7566-compliant SAF with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions more than 70% below conventional fossil jet fuel. Chief executive and co-founder Conor Madigan described the latest run as bringing together units previously scaled up more than 50-fold from pilot scale.