A California-based startup, Circularity Fuels, is making headway in an area long considered economically unviable: turning agricultural waste into a reliable source for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). With more than 20,000 large-scale livestock farms in the U.S. generating nearly a trillion pounds of manure each year—and less than 6% of them capturing the resulting biogas—the untapped fuel potential is massive.
Circularity’s electric-powered Ouro Reactor converts raw dairy biogas into synthesis gas (syngas), a foundational component in SAF production. The system operates at roughly 1% the cost of conventional methane reformers, relying on modified components originally developed for the automotive sector. Unlike large-scale gas reformers that require significant upfront capital and industrial infrastructure, the Ouro system is compact, resilient, and capable of running on standard electrical connections.
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