A visit to Metafuels SAF 'Aerobrew' lab and pilot plant

(Left to right: Leigh Hackett, Chairman of Metafuels, Marco Ranocchiari, Leader of Energy Systems Integration platform, Paul Scherrer Institute, Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous, Saurabh Kapoor, CEO of Metafuels at the Aerobrew pilot plant and laboratory.)

Last month, the Oilholic headed out to the Paul Scherrer Institute in Würenlingen, Switzerland, to visit a laboratory and pilot site run by start-up firm Metafuels. It's attempting something that's a bit different in the sustainable aviation fuels space by producing its fuel via a methanol-to-jet fuel process. 

For context, you'd mostly find that e-sustainable aviation fuels or e-SAFs start-ups (i.e. those deploying renewable energy to produce synthetic fuel), do so by deploying the Fischer-Tropsch process. It involves sequential chemical reactions that convert a carbon monoxide and hydrogen mix, or synthetic gas ("syngas") into liquid hydrocarbons. 

But the team at Mefafuels led by two experts from the carbon capture and storage sphere - CEO Saurabh Kapoor and Chairman Leigh Hackett - is attempting something no other start-up known to yours truly is currently doing by viably deploying methanol synthesis to produce their SAF. 

Via their chosen method, methanol is synthesised from carbon monoxide and hydrogen at high pressure using catalysts made up of copper and zinc oxide. This too is a long-established process. But only recently have petrochemists managed to create pathways and additional steps for synthesising longer-chain hydrocarbons such as butylene, ethylene, propylene, and ultimately kerosene / jet fuel. 

Kapoor, Hackett, and a third co-founder Ulrich Koss, along with a team of a dozen people, believe they have come up with a methanol-to-jet fuel process that makes their e-SAF "economically viable" with fewer unwanted by-products and less waste compared to the routinely deployed Fischer-Tropsch process. 

In their laboratory, Metafuels demonstrated to the Oilholic that the synthesis works as they intend it to, and with the desired efficiency, to produce a jet fuel they've trademarked with a rather catchy name - Aerobrew. (See right)

Several members of the team, including Kapoor and Hackett, as well as designated officials from the Paul Scherrer Institute led by Marco Ranocchiari, spent an entire day with The Oilholic, explaining and demonstrating the viable path to upscaling their Aerobrew. 

Moving beyond the lab, Metafuels' demonstration plant with a production capacity of 50 litres is nearly complete which this blogger was also given a kind tour of. The plant will help Metafuels work on concepts for producing Aerobrew on a much larger scale. 

And speaking of scaling up the process, here's yours truly's feature on Metafuels for Forbes, which touches on the firm's plans for commercialising Aerobrew. The first step of this would an industrial-scale commercial plant with a capacity of 5000 litres, or hundred-times that of the pilot plant by 2028. 

The anticipated cost of production of 5,000 litres of Metafuels' e-SAF will likely be around 50% lower and the yield around 80% higher, according to the company. This is massive if achieved on a commercial scale. 

While The Oilholic can personally testify that Metafuels' offer is what it says on the tin, or shall we say an eagerly-awaited barrel of Aerobrew - the start-up is neither short of belief nor backers. 

Speaking of the latter, it has raised $22 million so far in funding via a diverse set of venture capital funds. 

At the time of writing, these include Celsius Industries, RockCreek, Fortescue Energy Ventures, Verve Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures, as well as the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The future looks promising for both Metafuels, and the demand for SAFs, especially in European aviation markets. 

So, it will be interesting to see where this goes, and the Oilholic intends to keep you posted when / where possible. With those final thoughts, it's time take your leave. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: The Oilholic with the Metafuels team at Aerobrew lab as captioned. Photo II: Metafuels SAF Aerobrew. Photo III: The Oilholic with the Metafuels team at Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland. © Gaurav Sharma, December 18, 2024.