Construction underway at Infinium’s commercial-scale eFuels production facility in West Texas

Photo: Infinium

Infinium, a leading producer of commercially available eFuels, announced May 19 that construction is underway on its second U.S.-based eFuels production site, known as Project Roadrunner.

The project, which includes investors Brookfield Asset Management and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, is located in Reeves County, Texas, near the city of Pecos.

According to Infinium, the site is expected to become the world’s largest eFuels production facility when operational, producing 23,000 metric tons per year (7.6 million gallons) of sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) and other eFuel products for customers including global aviation leaders American Airlines and International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways, Aer Lingus and other international airline brands.

“Infinium’s Project Roadrunner marks a huge achievement for the fuel industry,” said Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle. “Not only will the project produce commercial eSAF for its customers, it will bring highly skilled jobs and economic growth to the Pecos community and state of Texas. This project demonstrates the ongoing commitment of Infinium, its investors and partners to help ensure that the United States remains a global leader in energy security, resilience and innovation.” 

eFuels are synthetic fuels produced from waste CO2 and renewable energy that are chemically identical to conventional petroleum-based fuels.

These drop-in fuels are used in the transportation and chemicals sectors, seamlessly integrating with existing engines, infrastructure and manufacturing processes.

Infinium said its eFuels provide an opportunity for energy diversification while leveraging the global infrastructure that powers the transportation and chemicals industries today.

In 2023, Infinium became the world’s first to produce and ship commercial volumes of eFuels to customers in the U.S. and Europe from its production facility, Project Pathfinder, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Roadrunner project reached financial close with investments from Brookfield Asset Management and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and is now under construction.

The project represents significant investment in the region and will support highly skilled direct labor jobs in construction, fabrication, operations and logistics locally and across Texas.

Commercial agreements for the project—including feedstock, vendor and offtake contracts—have been structured and derisked to attract the infrastructure capital and debt required for the continued scaling of the eFuels market, according to Infinium.

Infinium’s Project Roadrunner facility will convert waste CO2 and renewable energy to produce sustainable aviation fuel, leveraging new renewable power assets purpose-built for the project.

The fuels produced by the Roadrunner project will be sold domestically in the U.S. and exported to international markets.

Under a landmark agreement with IAG, the eSAF will be shipped to the U.K. to satisfy compliance requirements under the recently enacted U.K. SAF mandate, which requires that at least 10 percent of all jet fuel in flights taking off from the U.K. is sourced from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.

“The construction of Project Roadrunner represents a real step forward in the production of sustainable aviation fuel at scale,” said Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s group sustainability officer. “We’re proud to be an early customer of Infinium’s eSAF and working hard to procure and invest in SAF to deliver our 10 percent 2030 SAF goal. The aviation industry is making progress, but continued support and stronger incentives are necessary to accelerate production at the scale and pace required to ensure a long-term, affordable supply.”

Currently under construction, the facility is expected to reach commercial operations in 2027.

Roadrunner has secured 150 megawatts (MW) of new wind-generation capacity from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources through a long-term power-purchase agreement.

“We are pleased to support Infinium’s Roadrunner project, which reflects a significant step forward for an emerging new market for renewable electricity,” said Petter Skantze, NextEra Energy Resources’ senior vice president of infrastructure development. “The United States has tremendous potential to use its abundant energy resources to serve global demand, and we’re excited to expand our investment in Texas to enable Infinium’s industry-leading eFuels production facility.”

Infinium selected leading electrolyzer manufacturer Electric Hydrogen to supply its complete 100 MW HYPRPlant solution for the project, which will be integrated on site for green hydrogen production.

This large-scale system will not only produce hydrogen for the eSAF facility but will also have capacity to support future hydrogen-offtake opportunities. 

“Infinium’s Project Roadrunner stands as a remarkable example of how next-generation technologies can rapidly evolve from proof-of-concept to finance-ready infrastructure,” said Mario Fernandez, the head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. “At BE Catalyst, we are proud to have partnered with Infinium from the onset to help shape this project, positioning it to attract the necessary infrastructure capital required to scale and accelerate the delivery of eFuels into the market.”

Laura Hellman, senior vice president at Brookfield, added, “Our investments in Infinium and Project Roadrunner are the first Brookfield has committed to sustainable aviation fuel. We are excited about our partnership with Infinium, which will help advance sustainability within the aviation sector consistent with the goals of our investment strategy.”

Supported by top industry leaders in energy and infrastructure, Infinium said it is expanding its development of eFuel facilities both across the U.S. and internationally.