US-based renewable fuels startup Circularity Fuels has raised $7 million in a seed funding round led by Trucks and DCVC, with participation from Sum Ventures and Automotive Ventures. The company will use the funding to expand its technology for converting biogas from dairy manure into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The funding will support an 18-month development plan to move the technology from laboratory testing towards commercial production. Circularity Fuels plans to build and operate a demonstration plant that can produce jet fuel daily. It will also complete the engineering design for a commercial facility capable of producing 75 barrels of fuel per day and secure supply agreements with airlines.
The company also plans to license its Ouro reactor technology to other businesses interested in building their own renewable fuel production facilities.
Circularity Fuels aims to address the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel as airlines look for alternatives to conventional jet fuel. Currently, SAF accounts for less than 1% of global aviation fuel demand. Much of the SAF produced in the US comes from used cooking oil, which has limited availability and is largely imported.
The startup sees dairy manure as an alternative feedstock. Large livestock operations in the US produce significant amounts of manure, but fewer than 6% capture the biogas generated from it. Circularity’s modular technology converts this biogas into liquid fuel directly at farms, creating an additional revenue opportunity for farmers while providing airlines with an alternative fuel source.
“Every dairy already has the feedstock. What’s been missing is a way to turn it into jet fuel that makes economic sense for the farmer and the airline,” said Dr. Stephen Beaton, Founder and CEO of Circularity Fuels. “This funding lets us run our process at demonstration scale and design our first commercial plant. And as fuel supply gets harder to count on, fuel made close to home from waste we already have is worth more than ever.”
“We backed Circularity because methane and CO2 are wasted today at nearly every dairy and landfill, and Stephen’s team turns both into jet fuel with simple, affordable reactors,” said Zachary Bogue, Managing Partner at DCVC. “That is the kind of hard engineering that changes the economics of an entire industry, and we’re proud to back them from incubation to their first commercial plant.”
“Circularity is going after a big, painful problem in a market that has watched a string of experiments fail to land at scale. It’s the first practical attempt to solve SAF’s unit-economics problems, and we look forward to supporting the Circularity Fuels team as they tackle the decarbonization of aviation,” said Puneeth Meruva, Partner at Trucks Venture Capital.
Earlier this year, Circularity Fuels completed what it described as the world’s first end-to-end conversion of raw biogas from dairy manure into sustainable aviation fuel. The process was validated during a six-month pilot project at a dairy farm near Madera, California. The resulting fuel met ASTM D7566 Annex A1 specifications for sustainable aviation fuel.
The company also estimates that its commercial plants could have capital costs around one-fifth of those associated with jet fuel facilities currently being developed in Europe.
In addition to its latest seed funding, Circularity Fuels has received nearly $7 million in grants from organisations including ARPA-E and the National Science Foundation. The US Department of Agriculture has also advanced the company’s application to the second phase of its review for a federal loan guarantee under its Section 9003 programme.
Founded by Dr. Stephen Beaton, former Lab Chief of the US Air Force Petroleum Office, Circularity Fuels is developing renewable fuel technology for aviation and long-haul transportation. With approximately $17 million raised through funding and grants, the company aims to turn agricultural and other waste streams into cleaner alternatives to conventional fuels.
