Climate tech company OXCCU announced today that it has raised £18 million (US$22.7 million), with proceeds from the financing the company’s aimed at commercializing the company’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), produced from captured carbon dioxide.

Sustainable aviation fuel is seen as one of the key tools to help decarbonize the aviation industry, which currently accounts for 2-3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. SAF is generally produced from sustainable resources, like waste oils and agricultural residues, providing substantial emissions reductions relative to current fossil-based jet fuels.

Demand for SAF will continue to rise as airlines and governments aim to meet climate goals. In April for example, lawmakers at the European Parliament and EU Council announced an agreement on new rules requiring a minimum SAF share of fuel at EU airports, rising to 70% by 2050.

Many current techniques used to produce SAF, however, may face difficulty in reaching the scale required to support these ambitions, with required feedstocks often in limited supply. While solutions to use captured CO2 as an SAF feedstock are emerging, the process is often costly.

Spun out from the University of Oxford’s Chemistry Department in 2021, OXCCU combines CO2 with hydrogen from water to produce, fuels, chemicals and biodegradable plastics. Marketed as OXEFUEL, OXCCU’s SAF is produced by merging captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen derived from renewable sources using an iron-based catalyst. The company says this approach yields a more affordable and environmentally friendly substitute for fossil-based jet fuel, catering to the needs of commercial airlines.

OXCCU said that it will use the new funding to support its technological capabilities, expand its facilities, and grow its team in the UK.

Andrew Symes, CEO of OXCCU, said:

“We’ve built an extraordinary team of senior scientists, engineers and operators, and now backed by this experienced group of investors, we are confident we can scale this technology into a cost-competitive and globally deployable solution to create a sustainable drop-in product for the global aviation market.”

The Series A funding round was led by Clean Energy Ventures, and included participation from new investors Aramco Ventures, Eni Next, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund SM, and Braavos Capital, joining existing investors Kiko Ventures and University of Oxford.

Daniel Goldman, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Clean Energy Ventures, said:

“We see extraordinary potential for this technology to mitigate new aviation fuel production emissions at gigaton-scale in the near-future, and we are pleased to lead an extraordinary consortium of industry leaders to support the company in its commercialization and deployment.”