Sustainable Aviation Fuel and E-Naphtha are Being Produced from Captured Carbon at Plant in Washington State

      Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is being produced at a plant in Washington state from captured carbon. A company called Twelve is running the facility in Moses Lake, Washington. 

     According to an article about the project by Jim Giles in Trellis:

“The technology inside AirPlant One uses renewable energy to transform CO2 and water into a synthetic crude oil that can then be refined to produce eSAF and other products. Twelve claims that the lifecycle emissions associated with its eSAF are up to 90 percent lower than conventional fossil-based jet fuel. It’s also considerably more expensive: Nicholas Flanders, Twelve’s CEO and co-founder, declined to share the cost, but industry estimates peg eSAF as five to 10 times more expensive than conventional fuel.”

     The project will produce a small amount of SAF, just 50,000 gallons annually, about 4.5% of the jet fuel used in 2025 by offtaker Alaska Airlines.

     Giles reports that employees of Microsoft and Shopify will be able to use the eSAF to lower business-travel emissions. The premium costs of the fuel will be taken on by companies such as Microsoft and other buyers, who will receive credits that can be counted against their Scope 3 emissions.

“The eSAF industry will also soon have regulatory support. Under the European Union’s RefuelEU aviation program, airports in the bloc were required to use 2 percent SAF in 2025, rising to 70 percent in 2050. A separate sub-mandate for eSAF will begin at 1.2 percent in 2030 and reach 35 percent by 2050.”

“Scale will be critical if eSAF producers are to cut costs and become competitive with other forms of SAF. Flanders said that Twelve, which closed a $645 million funding round in 2024 and has a contract to supply five European airlines with 260 million gallons of eSAF, is planning an AirPlant Two facility that will produce tens of millions of gallons annually.” 

     CO2, water, and renewable energy are used to produce the eSAF. Electrolyzers produce the hydrogen needed for the process from water. The project will also produce e-naphtha, which is a feedstock for many products.

     Twelve notes on its website:

"Twelve partners with brands to produce E-Made products made with E-Naphtha, providing an upstream solution for decarbonizing everyday products without compromise. To date, the company has delivered proof-of-concept projects to global manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz (interior automotive components from CO2-based polymers), PANGAIA (CO2Made® polycarbonate sunglass lenses), and Procter & Gamble (CO2-based ingredients for Tide laundry detergent).”

    

 

References:

 

Jet fuel made from captured carbon begins to flow from new plant: Microsoft and Shopify are among the buyers of credits from Alaska Airlines, one of the first carriers to use the new fuel from startup Twelve. Jim Giles. Trellis.  June 12, 2026. Jet fuel made from captured carbon begins to flow from new plant

AirPlant™ One Opens in Moses Lake: America’s First Commercial E-Jet® Fuel Plant Begins Operations. Twelve. AirPlant™ One Opens in Moses Lake: America’s First Commercial E-Jet® Fuel Plant Begins Operations