Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology and production company LanzaJet announced today a $20 million investment from airport operator Groupe ADP, aimed at supporting the deployment of LanzaJet’s SAF process globally.

Launched in 2020 by carbon recycling technology company LanzaTech, Illinois-based LanzaJet has developed “Alcohol-to-Jet” technology enabling the creation of SAF and renewable diesel from waste-based and sustainable ethanol sources including feedstocks such as low-carbon sugarcane, energy crops, forest residuals, agricultural wastes, and organic waste.

The new investment follows the startup by LanzaJet earlier this year of the first-ever commercial-scale ethanol-to-SAF plant, LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels in Soperton, Georgia, with annual production of 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel. LanzaJet said that Freedom Pines will serve as a blueprint for its technology to scale SAF production, as the company targets reaching 1 billion gallons of SAF production by 2030.

The announcement marks the latest in a series of investments in the LanzaJet, including recent investments by Microsoft and Southwest Airlines. Additional investors in the company include All Nippon Airways, Breakthrough Energy, British Airways, LanzaTech, Mitsui & Co., Shell, and Suncor Energy.

LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis said:

“We continue to lay the foundation for building the SAF industry across the entire value chain, and with this significant contribution from Groupe ADP – a first-of-its-kind in the industry, we will expand LanzaJet’s technology deployment and global growth. Together, we will work towards expanding Sustainable Aviation Fuel production and logistics into airports to support airlines and Groupe ADP customers worldwide as the industry works collaboratively to decarbonize.”

France-based Groupe ADP develops and manages airports, including Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Paris-Le Bourget. The company’s network includes 26 airports managed directly or indirectly around the world.

According to Groupe ADP, the investment forms part of its strategy to play a major role in the production of SAF and to ensure the security of supply for air transport. The investment also presents an option to convert directly into SAF for the company.

Groupe ADP CEO Augustin de Romanet said:

“Low-carbon aviation will not take off without the transformation of airports into energy hubs with a range of low-carbon solutions. The airport revolution must happen now, and it is underway in Paris. As the world’s leading airport operator, we wanted to go further and act at source by supporting the production of sustainable aviation fuel, investing directly in LanzaJet, an innovative company able to deploy its technology responsibly around the world, and adapting to local waste to make these new fuels available everywhere.”