Boston-based Lydian announced a $43 million Series A funding round to support development of synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF). The financing was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and will support the company’s PIVOT platform, which is designed to produce synthetic jet fuel from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
Lydian says the system uses standardized, factory-built modules intended to reduce construction costs and respond to changes in renewable-electricity availability. The company currently operates a pilot plant in Boston and plans to place a commercial demonstration facility into operation in 2028.
The company’s product differs from bio-based SAF because it is produced using captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Its sustainability and emissions profile will depend on the sources of the hydrogen, electricity and carbon dioxide used during production.
Lydian expects its first full-scale commercial installation to begin operating in 2030.
The news that anyone would invest in such things proves that a sucker is indeed born every day. There exists exactly ZERO free market demand for SAF. Just as with ethanol in our gasoline, overpriced LED lightbulbs, horrible Energy Star appliances, solar and wind farms, EV battery cars and airplanes, SAF only finds a buyer when government subsidies and coercion creates fake demand. Take that away and it disappears. And why sequester CO2? We need more of it, not less. See Alex Epstein’s masterpiece, “Fossil Future” which documents how the rise in global human flourishing has paralleled the rise in human CO2 production, and how green the Earth was when CO2 levels were much, much higher than today. God has blessed our great nation with vast fossil fuel reserves. These should be used for aviation, not SAF, not ethanol, etc.