INERATEC Secures €70 Million in Funding to Scale Up Sustainable e-Fuel Production for Aviation and Beyond

INERATEC Secures €70 Million in Funding to Scale Up Sustainable e-Fuel Production for Aviation and Beyond

(IN BRIEF) INERATEC secures €40 million in venture debt from the European Investment Bank and €30 million in grants from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to expand its e-Fuel production capacity. The funding supports the development of Europe’s largest sustainable e-Fuel plant in Frankfurt, with a focus on decarbonizing aviation and producing synthetic fuels for diverse industries. This collaboration between INERATEC and EU partners emphasizes the importance of public-private partnerships in driving the clean energy transition.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 6-Mar-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — INERATEC has secured a significant financial boost with a €40 million venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a €30 million grant from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. This combined €70 million will support the expansion of its e-Fuel production capabilities, with plans for the largest sustainable e-Fuel plant in Europe, located in Frankfurt. The funding also focuses on advancing research and development for e-Fuels, crucial to decarbonizing industries such as aviation.

The announcement was made at the EIB-Group-Forum in Luxembourg, highlighting the strategic role of e-Fuels in reducing emissions from sectors that are difficult to decarbonize, like aviation. This investment aims to scale INERATEC’s production capacity and commercialize its innovative reactor technology that transforms green hydrogen and CO2 into synthetic aviation fuel. The funding, secured earlier this year, is a pivotal move in advancing the commercialization of INERATEC’s Power-to-Liquid technology, fostering the transition to a net-zero future.

INERATEC’s unique process converts hydrogen and CO2—sourced from biogas plants or industrial emissions—into synthetic crude oil. This oil can then be refined into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), marine fuels, and e-Diesel. The integration of CO2, which would otherwise contribute to atmospheric pollution, reduces the carbon footprint of the resulting fuels. At the plant near Frankfurt, CO2 is captured from a biogas facility, while hydrogen is derived as a by-product of chlorine production. The modular nature of INERATEC’s units enhances scalability, offering flexibility for diverse production sites.

Beyond aviation, INERATEC’s synthetic oil serves as a base for other sustainable products, including plastics, further contributing to eco-friendly chemical manufacturing.

With previous demonstration projects and industrial pilots completed, INERATEC now shifts focus to scaling up operations and optimizing commercial deployment. This new investment will enable the company to ramp up production to meet growing market demand, ensuring a consistent supply of e-Fuels and fostering the economic viability of synthetic fuels. The Frankfurt facility will produce up to 2,500 tons of e-Fuel annually, enough to power many flights, such as those between Frankfurt and New York, with 80 tons of kerosene per long-haul flight. This highlights the importance of increasing e-SAF production capacities beyond initial pilot projects.

The European Union’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, which mandates a minimum 1.2% e-SAF blend by 2030, is expected to open up new market opportunities for sustainable aviation fuel.

The partnership between INERATEC and the EU-Catalyst Partnership underscores the critical role of public-private collaborations in scaling up clean energy technologies. The backing from the EIB, facilitated by the InvestEU Programme, is a testament to the EU’s commitment to supporting innovative solutions that can keep European industry competitive while reducing its environmental impact. This funding also highlights the EU’s broader efforts to support clean technologies, including hydrogen production and sustainable fuels.

EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer emphasized the EIB’s dedication to fostering a competitive net-zero economy, especially in sectors like aviation, through initiatives like the EU-Breakthrough Catalyst. She added that these partnerships contribute to making e-Fuels more cost-effective. Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, praised INERATEC’s efforts to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale e-Fuel production, noting that real-world projects are essential for driving costs down and attracting investment.

INERATEC’s CEO, Dr. Tim Boeltken, remarked on the transformative impact of this funding, marking a new phase in the company’s efforts to scale e-Fuel production. He emphasized that this initiative will help reduce CO2 emissions in sectors where direct electrification is challenging and that the focus will now be on deploying the technology at scale to make the most significant environmental impact.

Background information

The EU-Catalyst partnership was launched in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow by EU-President Ursula von der Leyen, EIB-President Werner Hoyer and Bill Gates, with the aim to develop large-scale green tech projects based in Europe and boost investments in critical climate technologies. The Partnership creates a blueprint for public-private support for clean tech innovative technologies.

The European Investment Bank, as implementing partner of the Commission under InvestEU, has been tasked to deploy for the benefit of this partnership up to €420 million, made available from both Horizon Europe (EUR 200 million), and the Innovation Fund, which has committed EUR220 million. Breakthrough Energy Catalyst mobilizes equivalent private capital and philanthropic grants to fund the selected projects. The EU-Catalyst Partnership does not exclude potential additional contributions from EU Member States or other private partners that decide to further support the projects. Interested projects can apply for support through the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst website.

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances investments that contribute to EU policy objectives. EIB projects bolster competitiveness, drive innovation, promote sustainable development, enhance social and territorial cohesion, and support a just and swift transition to climate neutrality. The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed a total of €88 billion in new financing for over 900 projects in 2023.

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Accord. The EIB Group does not fund investments in fossil fuels. We are on track to deliver on our commitment to support €1 trillion in climate and environmental sustainability investment in the decade to 2030 as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Over half of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.

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Breakthrough Energy is committed to accelerating the world’s journey to a clean energy future. The organization funds breakthrough technologies, advocates for climate-smart policies, and mobilizes partners around the world to take effective action, accelerating progress at every stage.

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a novel platform that funds and invests in first-of-a-kind commercial projects for emerging climate technologies. By investing in these opportunities, Catalyst seeks to accelerate the adoption of these technologies worldwide and reduce their costs.

Catalyst currently focuses on five technology areas: clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, direct air capture, long-duration energy storage, and manufacturing decarbonization. In addition to capital, Catalyst leverages the team’s energy-infrastructure-investing and project-development expertise to work with innovators on advancing their projects from the development stage to funding and ultimately, to construction. Learn more about Breakthrough Energy and Catalyst at breakthroughenergy.org.

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds to mobilise private investments for the European Union’s policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that will invest in projects leveraging the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. To this amount, further guarantees have been added from the EU’s Horizon programme and the Innovation Fund to support initiatives such as the EU-Catalyst partnership.

The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.

EIB venture debt is a quasi-equity investment product suitable for early and growth stage ventures, combining a long-term loan with an instrument linking the return to the performance of the company. Since 2015, the EIB has invested €6 billion in Venture Debt, backing over 200 companies and realising over 50 exits. With the backing of InvestEU, the EIB aims to support European ventures and scale-ups in the cleantech, deep-tech and life sciences sectors.

The Innovation Fund: With an estimated revenue of €40 billion from the EU Emissions Trading System between 2020 and 2030, the Innovation Fund aims to support innovative net-zero technologies and support Europe’s transition to climate neutrality. The Innovation Fund contributes a €220 million top-up guarantee to the InvestEU Programme for the EU Catalyst Partnership, having enabled until now more than €100 million in lending from EIB.

INERATEC is committed to defossilizing and decarbonizing the world. The company produces e-Fuels and e-chemicals: carbon-neutral fossil fuel substitutes for use in the aviation, shipping and chemical industries.

Its modular, scalable plants use renewable hydrogen and biogenic CO2 to produce synthetic kerosene, gasoline, diesel, waxes, methanol or natural gas. It is building what will be the world’s largest e-fuels plant to date, in Frankfurt, which will produce up to 2,500 tonnes of ultra-low-carbon aviation fuel per year. The company is based in Karlsruhe, Germany and backed by diverse international investors.

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SOURCE: European Investment Bank