Circularity Fuels has closed a $7 million seed round to scale jet fuel made from dairy biogas. Trucks and DCVC led the round. Sum Ventures and Automotive Ventures also took part.
In June, the California company completed the first end-to-end conversion of raw dairy biogas into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). A six-month pilot at a dairy near Madera, California, validated the fuel against ASTM D7566 Annex A1 specifications.
The process starts with biogas, the methane and carbon dioxide released as manure breaks down. Circularity’s Ouro reactor turns that gas into liquid fuel. The modular systems are designed to run on the farm.
The new funding covers an 18-month plan. Circularity will build a demonstration plant that makes jet fuel daily. It will finish the engineering design for a commercial plant producing 75 barrels per day. It will also line up the airline fuel contracts needed to break ground. Licensing of Ouro technology will begin too.
U.S. jet fuel prices have risen 75 percent this year after war broke out in the Middle East. Airlines have cut flights and passed on higher costs. SAF meets less than 1% of global demand. Most U.S. supply comes from used cooking oil, which is limited and largely imported.
Large U.S. livestock operations produce nearly a trillion pounds of manure a year. Fewer than 6% capture the resulting biogas.
The company projects commercial capital costs at about one fifth of those for jet fuel plants under construction in Europe. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also advanced its loan guarantee application to Phase 2 of review under the Section 9003 program.
CEO Stephen Beaton said every dairy already has the feedstock. DCVC Managing Partner Zachary Bogue said the team turns wasted methane and CO2 into fuel with simple, affordable reactors.
