Article

What Fulcrum BioEnergy's Breakthrough Means for Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Investment in sustainable aviation fuel is building, and this clean energy company has a plan to reduce both emissions and waste.

Inc., April 3, 2023

One person's trash is another's transportation fuel.

Clean energy company Fulcrum BioEnergy made a recent breakthrough in its development of a sustainable solution: turning municipal waste into low-carbon transportation fuel. With a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale facility, the company is producing low-carbon crude oil, which it will begin refining into a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a biofuel with a smaller carbon footprint.

Since the aughts, sustainable aviation fuel makers, which include Neste in Finland and World Energy in the U.S., have grown the industry into a $433 million global market. The aviation sector accounts for more than 2 percent of global emissions, but it remains one of the most visible producers of pollution in an era of climate uncertainty. It's an industry that will only get more attention as temperatures rise, and that presents opportunities for companies like Fulcrum.

"The problems we're solving only continue to become more difficult problems," Pryor says. "The need, and the interest, is only growing."