United Airlines has invested US$15 million in
Svante, a carbon capture technology company.
Svante
provides materials and technology as part of the value chain that
has the potential to convert CO2 removed from the atmosphere and
from industrial emission sources into sustainable aviation fuel
(SAF).
This investment comes from the United Airlines
Ventures (UAV)
Sustainable Flight Fund, a new investment vehicle
that is designed to leverage support from cross-industry
businesses in order to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing
air travel through SAF research, technology and production.
United aims to be 100% green by reducing its greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions 100% by 2050, without relying on traditional
carbon offsets. To date, the airline has invested in the future
production of over three billion gallons of SAF, the most of any
airline in the world.
“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 United CEO, Scott Kirby. “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.”
The 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 a number of
organizations, including Dimensional Energy, a carbon utilization
– CO2 to jet fuel – company that UAV invested
in last year.
“We are pleased to have the support of United
Airlines as one of our world-class investors,” said Claude
Letourneau, Svante’s President & CEO. “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.”
Svante is a leader in
second generation solid sorbent-based carbon capture and removal.
The company’s scalable, eco-friendly, and commercially available
carbon capture and removal technology employs structured absorbent
beds, known as filters. These filters can capture 95% 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. It can also be
safely transported and stored underground.
Svante’s
manufacturing facility is anticipated to produce enough filter
modules to capture millions of tons of carbon dioxide per year
across hundreds of large-scale carbon capture facilities.
“It’s great to see United’s commitment to building an ecosystem
for carbon dioxide (CO2) to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
manifest through this significant investment in Svante,” said
Jason Salfi, Dimensional Energy’s CEO. “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.”
SAF is an alternative to
conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces GHG
emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet
fuel alone.
SAF is made from used cooking oil and agricultural
waste, and, in the future, could be made from other feedstocks,
including household trash, forest waste, or compressed CO2, the
end product of Svante’s carbon capture process.
