Sora Fuel has successfully raised an oversubscribed $6 million seed round. The round was led by The Engine Ventures, with participation from Wireframe Ventures and other investors. The funds will be used to expand Sora Fuel’s Boston-based team, develop commercialization partnerships, and further advance the company’s innovative technology.
Aviation emissions have increased fourfold since the 1960s, with aircraft currently responsible for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and approximately 4% of global warming. As air travel demand continues to rise, SAF is expected to play a critical role in decarbonizing this challenging sector. However, existing SAF production methods are limited by high energy requirements, substantial feedstock needs, and significant investments.
For instance, the only commercially viable SAF process today, Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA), depends on limited waste oil feedstock, which costs around $3.50 per gallon. Another method, the alcohol-to-jet process, competes with agriculture and contributes to soil degradation. While waste gasification and point-source power-to-liquid processes are less resource-dependent, they offer limited greenhouse gas reduction as they rely on non-biogenic carbon sources.
Sora Fuel introduces a groundbreaking approach to SAF production by capturing and utilizing atmospheric CO2 at costs significantly lower than current methods. The company’s technology features a liquid bicarbonate electrolyser that provides direct air capture (DAC) CO2 at just $20 per ton. This system operates in a fully closed-loop manner, using only water and renewable electricity to produce syngas.
Compared to existing DAC solutions, Sora Fuel’s DAC-to-fuels approach drastically reduces energy inputs, eliminates the need for feedstocks other than air and water, and offers a scalable and cost-effective process for producing SAF and other syngas-derived products.
“Sora Fuel’s technology eliminates 90% of the energy currently required in standard DAC processes, opening up an entirely new and more sustainable path for producing carbon-negative fuels,” said Gareth Ross, co-founder and CEO of Sora Fuel. “Our patented, closed-loop system enables the direct generation of an economical product and overcomes widespread feedstock constraints, allowing us to produce SAF at prices comparable to current Jet A fuel.”
Michael Kearney, General Partner at Engine Ventures and Sora Fuel Board member, added, “There’s no path to meeting our climate goals without reducing the carbon intensity of aviation. Fuels are the backbone of that sector because of their energy density, and decarbonizing fuels requires new pathways for capturing and utilizing CO2 to scalably produce SAF. The company’s innovative electrolyser technology will enable the operation of highly profitable SAF plants that are unconstrained by location – a crucial feature considering that 500 million metric tons of SAF are needed by 2050 to meet the global aviation industry’s environmental targets.”
With this significant investment, Sora Fuel is poised to make a substantial impact on the aviation industry by providing a sustainable, scalable, and cost-effective solution for SAF production.
