Tourexpi
United wants to turn
microalgae into SAF through the first new investment of its recently announced
UAV Sustainable Flight FundSM since its launch: algae biofuel company
Viridos. This $5 million investment will support the production of
sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from algae, an abundant and scalable
resource that can be grown and harvested without impacting the food supply
chain.
Viridos specializes
in the bioengineering of microalgae and its proprietary technology accelerates
the amount of oil that can produced from microalgae. This algae oil could then
be used to scale the future production of SAF.
SAF is an alternative
to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel
alone.¹ 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 algae. To date, United has invested in the future production of over
three billion gallons of SAF - the most of any airline in the world.
"SAF is proven,
scalable, and the best tool we have to reduce our carbon emissions from flying,
but we face a significant shortage of available feedstock," said United
Airlines Ventures President Mike Leskinen. "As the global aviation
leader in SAF production investment United remains committed to reaching net
zero carbon emissions, without relying on traditional carbon offsets, by 2050.
Viridos' algae-based biofuel technology has the potential to help solve our
supply problem without the need for farmland or other agricultural resources
and marks our inaugural investment in our new cross-industry UAV Sustainable
Flight Fund."
Viridos, a biofuel
company focused on decarbonizing industries, is leading the bioengineering of
microalgae and has already achieved seven times the oil productivity compared
to typical wild-type algae. This creates an opportunity for potentially
scalable and more sustainable production of algae oil, that could later be used
to produce SAF. Based on current estimates, SAF created by Viridos' algae oil
is expected to have a 70% reduced carbon footprint on a lifecycle basis when
compared to traditional jet fuel.
Viridos'
bioengineering technology combines several important and unique attributes
contributing to better scalability and sustainability compared with traditional
jet fuel production:
Surface area oil
productivities of Viridos algae far exceed any traditional oil crop, achieving
high algae oil output on comparatively small areas.
Viridos algae are
grown in vessels containing seawater. This allows contained deployment in hot
and dry locations without taxing scarce freshwater and arable land resources,
while eliminating runoff.
Viridos algae have
extremely high oil contents facilitating downstream processing to algae oil.
Viridos algae oil is
a quality plant oil allowing existing bio-refineries to process the oil with
high yield.
"By establishing
production sites to grow Viridos-engineered microalgae in saltwater, we are
creating the foundation for a biofuel future that moves away from fossil fuels
without competing for precious resources such as fresh water and arable land.
We are excited to have the support from United Airlines. Together we can build
the ecosystem needed to bring algae biofuels to the market," said Oliver
Fetzer, Viridos Chief Executive Officer.
Image Credit: ©
United Airlines
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