Karlsruhe, Germany-based Ineratec, a company that provides sustainable fuels, gas-to-liquid, power-to-gas and power-to-liquid application products, announced that it has raised $20M+ (approx €17.7M+) in its Series A round of funding.
The company mentions in a statement that it aims to achieve the Paris Climate Goals by providing a sustainable solution for the aviation, shipping, automotive, and chemical industries. It believes that with sustainable e-fuels, these sectors can be defossilised.
The company claims that the raised capital will help it scale up its production capacities of synthetic fuels made from CO2 and green hydrogen towards the megaton scale in order to turn their vision into reality.
Ineratec founder Tim Boeltken says, “This is a massive boost for our company. We will provide sustainable, affordable e-fuels and materials for everyone.”
Investors in this round
The round saw participation from current investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Extantia Capital, FO Holding, and Planet A, and new partners Engie, Safran, and MPC.
Eric Dalbies, Safran Senior Executive VP, says, “Safran is focused on this vital area to make aviation carbon-neutral by 2050. Ineratec’s technologies will bolster the technical expertise needed to develop a certified process for aviation.”
Olivier Sala, Engie VP, Research and Innovation, says, “We’re proud to be investing in a startup that combines innovation with the ambition of speeding the transition to net-zero carbon. Hydrogen and e-fuels will play a key role in decarbonising heavy mobility such as maritime, railway or air transport.”
“This investment is going to support Engie’s ambitious strategy of being able to produce 4 GW of green hydrogen by 2030,” Sala adds.
Sustainable e-fuel production
“Let’s get something meaningful done!”
With this motto, Tim Böltken, Philipp Engelkamp, and Paolo Piermartini, together with Prof. Peter Pfeifer from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), started Ineratec in 2014.
Ineratec provides modular chemical plants for Power-to-X and Gas-to-Liquid applications and supplies sustainable fuels and products. With the Power-to-Gas process, synthetic natural gas (SNG) is produced from hydrogen as well as from carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide. The Power-to-Liquid process converts renewable electricity and carbon dioxide into liquid, versatile applicable fuels, and chemical feedstocks.
The company says, “We have developed a technology platform based on compact chemical reactors. Due to the compactness of our reactor technology, the entire chemical process can be realised in transportable containers. Consequently, significant competitive advantages arise from a decentralised scale.”
The chemical reactors provide high load flexibility as well as quick start-up and shut-down times. Therefore, the reactors are suitable for fluctuating renewable energy applications, e.g. wind or solar. With this reactor concept, a cost-efficient, modular numbering-up approach becomes possible, says the company.
In 2021, Ineratec opened a pilot plant for the production of sustainable e-kerosene in the Emsland region, Lower-Saxony. It also plans an industrial pioneer plant close to Frankfurt Airport for the production of sustainable synthetic fuels starting in 2022. The company says that up to 4.6 million litres of Ineratec e-fuels can be produced annually from up to 10,000 tons of biogenic CO2 and renewable electricity.