Unifuel lands $3M investment for Flexiforming SAF technology

In California, Universal Fuel Technologies (Unifuel) has closed $3 million in funding for its Flexiforming technology that cuts SAF production costs by up to 50%, and the related carbon emissions by up to 75%. The seed round, led by TO VC, with participation from Alchemist Accelerator, Claire Technologies, and World Star Aviation, will support the advancement of the company’s proprietary Flexiforming process and help establish lab space in Texas for SAF sample production. Flexiforming, which consists of a series of chemical reactions, converts various renewable materials—including byproducts of other SAF-making technologies—into high-quality SAF that is chemically comparable to conventional jet fuel, paving the way for a 100% synthetic replacement compatible with the existing aircraft fleet.

Unifuel’s Flexiforming technology is a chemical process that can convert many sustainable materials, such as ethanol, methanol, renewable naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and others, into high-quality sustainable fuels or chemicals, including SAF. Flexiforming enables an ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) pathway at approximately half the cost of current ETJ processes. Flexiforming is also complementary to the most common SAF production processes by upgrading low-value byproducts, which can create better monetization opportunities for producers and maximize the use of limited raw material resources.