Infinium Launches mSAF (Methane-to-SAF) Platform

(Sacramento, California) eFuels producer Infinium – which is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy and Brookfield Asset Management – launched its new mSAF product offering today (Sept. 21); the mSAF product is a methane-derived sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) platform that converts renewable natural gas, biogas, flare gas, and other qualified methane streams into low-carbon aviation fuel.

Image of Infinium’s electrified steam methane reformer, part of what Infinium identifies as the world’s largest, the front end of an mSAF plant, courtesy of Infinium.

Per today’s press release from Infinium, mSAF expands the feedstocks and locations available for Infinium projects while complementing the company’s growing CO₂-based eSAF business.

Per Infinium, the launch and resulting expansion is important because it addresses a fundamental challenge for aviation: no single feedstock pathway can produce all of the low-carbon fuel needed to satisfy rising SAF mandates and industry commitments.

“Renewable natural gas, biogas, flare gas and other methane streams are already aggregated at landfills, dairies, wastewater facilities and gas-gathering systems across North America, Asia, Europe and other geographies and are increasingly looking for diversified end use opportunities,” reads today’s press release.

Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle said: “mSAF expands what Infinium’s platform can do. It gives us another way to apply our proven technology, develop projects across a broader range of locations and deliver more low-carbon fuel alongside our growing eSAF business. Aviation needs multiple scalable pathways, and Infinium is positioned to continue to deliver options."

Image of an explanation of mSAF feedstocks courtesy of Infinium’s website.

Background on mSAF:

Infinium provides additional detail about mSAF on its website: “The methane can come from a pipeline, from renewable natural gas captured at a landfill or digester, or from tail gas at a refinery or gas plant, from associated gas at a wellhead that would otherwise be flared or vented.

Infinium Reform™, the company’s electrified steam reformer, turns that gas into syngas using electricity in place of fired heat. The syngas then passes through Infinium Synthesize™ – the same chain-limiting catalyst step that finishes eSAF – and comes out as jet fuel — thus, mSAF is NOT a different fuel with a different approval path and/or handling procedure vs. other SAF products.

Per Infinium, the molecule leaving a Synthesize reactor is an ASTM specification jet fuel with no sulfur and very low aromatics, whether the carbon entering the plant arrived as CO₂ or as CH₄.

Background on Net Zero by 2050, per Infinium:

• The world requires approximately eight million barrels a day of sustainable aviation fuel by 2050 to meet net zero commitments.
• Today, SAF represents less than 1% of jet fuel supply — closing that gap means plants that can be financed, built, and commissioned on a schedule that matches the target.
• According to Infinium, mSAF is designed for that schedule: methane is already collected at landfills, digesters, and processing hubs, the conversion technology is proven, and each site can be permitted and built on a conventional industrial timeline.