Aether Fuels: Approach

Our Approach

True sustainability demands breakthrough economics

Sustainable feedstocks are costly to aggregate at a single facility in large volume. A truly sustainable solution must therefore be capex efficient even at small scale, and ideally have high yield and the flexibility to use any readily available feedstock.

Rendering of a detail section of the 100 gallon per day scale demo plant under construction by Aether and strategic partner GTI Energy.

An urgent need for new solutions

An exploding gap in supply and demand

Between now and 2040, demand for sustainable fuels will soar while supply from the existing approaches will be severely constrained. Today’s sustainable fuels are primarily made by hydrotreating waste fats and oils where supply is limited. This impasse can’t be breached without a shift to the more abundant feedstocks like the Aether Aurora technology uses.

Chart Note:
Aether calculations based on public pledges; feedstock availability estimate from 2020 World Economic Forum report “Clean Skies for Tomorrow” prepared by McKinsey

A bar graph labeled Scalability of hydrotreated waste fats/oils versus aviation and ocean shipping demand. Along the x-axis: 2025, 2030, 2035, and 2040. Along the y-axis: 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 where each is in millions of metric tons. The 2025 x-axis column has Market Demand and Waste Oil Capacity at about 15. The 2030 x-axis column has Market Demand at 100 and Waste Oil Capacity at about 40. The 2035 x-axis column has Market Demand at about 180 and Waste Oil Capacity at about 40. The 2040 x-axis column has Market Demand at about 280 and Waste Oil Capacity at about 40.

A bar graph labeled The smaller size of sustainable fuel plants demands a more CapEx efficient solution — which Aurora provides. Along the x-axis there are two columns without any labels. Along the y-axis: 0 – 140 in increments of 20 where each is barrels per day. The first x-axis column has a bar that goes to about 10 and is labeled 1–10k BPD Sustainable Fuel Plants. The second x-axis column has a bar that goes to 100k and is labeled 100k+ BPD Oil and Gas Refineries.

Existing approaches fall short

While the ideal approach to produce sustainable fuels is to use cheap and abundant feedstocks like CO2, solid waste, and industrial off-gases, this requires complex facilities with limited scale. This drives up fuel costs, making the end product unaffordable.

How We Solve It

Total focus on yield, efficiency, and flexibility at the right scale

Aether Aurora is a radically simplified evolution of a common industrial gas-to-liquid process. Robust, flexible, and efficient, it slashes CapEx while simultaneously delivering high yield and broad feedstock support.

Our technology

A bar graph labeled cost per MT/Day of capacity. There are three columns, no labels on either axis. The first column is the tallest and is labeled Existing High Yield Commercial FT. The second bar is a little shorter and is labeled Existing Low Yield Commercial FT. The third bar is the shortest and is labeled Aether Aurora.

Low plant capital cost

Enabled by the dramatic cost reductions made possible by Aether Aurora’s process intensification.

A bar graph labeled cost per MT. There are three columns, no labeles on either axis. The first column is very tall and is labeled Existing High Yield Commercial FT. The second column is exactly the same height and is labeled Existing Low Yield Commercial FT. The third column is much shorter and is labeled Aether Aurora.

Low operating expense

Enabled by the combination of Aether Aurora’s process simplicity and high yield.

An illustration of carbon, CO2, and hydrocarbon.

Maximum carbon flexibility

Enabled by Aether Aurora’s capability to convert carbon from CO2, CO and hydrocarbons (CH4 and others) with no extra steps or equipment.

A steady development program

Over 8 years and $12M of R&D investment to date by GTI Energy and Aether. In March 2024 installation of our forthcoming 100 gallons per day pilot plant with GTI Energy started. This plant will be fully operational next year.

Our technology

A clear difference with Aether Aurora

Feature	Aether Aurora	State of the Art Fischer-Tropsch	Simplified Fischer-Tropsch	Alcohol to Fuel
Relative yield to fully upgraded liquid hydrocarbons	Excellent	Good	Good	Good
Relative CapEx efficiency	Excellent	Average	Good	Average
Intrinsic flexibility to convert CO2, CO, and hydrocarbons	Excellent	Excellent	Good ( CO, CO2 only )	Good ( CO, CO2 only )