A €1.92 million grant from the Netherlands will help the Adliswil-based startup bring its green methanol-to-jet-fuel technology to commercial scale in Rotterdam by 2028.

What is Power-to-X — and why does aviation need it?

Air travel accounts for roughly 2–3 percent of global CO₂ emissions, and unlike cars or trains, commercial aircraft cannot simply switch to batteries. The physics of flight demand energy-dense liquid fuels for decades to come. That is where Power-to-X enters the picture.

Power-to-X (PtX) is an umbrella term for technologies that convert renewable electricity into synthetic fuels, chemicals, or gases. The “X” stands for whatever useful product comes out at the end — hydrogen, methane, methanol, or, as in this case, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By using green electricity to produce these fuels, Power-to-X effectively stores renewable energy in a chemical form that can replace fossil fuels in hard-to-decarbonise sectors like shipping and aviation.

Metafuels: from Swiss lab to Rotterdam’s port

Metafuels, headquartered in Adliswil near Zurich, has developed a proprietary catalytic process that turns green methanol into a drop-in synthetic jet fuel called Aerobrew. The technology, co-developed with the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland, was validated in a pilot plant that went into operation on the PSI campus in 2025. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy supported the project with CHF 4.4 million.

Now the company is taking the next step. The Dutch government innovation agency, Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), has awarded Metafuels a grant of €1.92 million to advance the construction of its first commercial-scale facility, called Turbe, in the Port of Rotterdam. The plant will be located on the premises of Evos, an Amsterdam-based firm specialising in the storage of liquid energy carriers and chemicals.

How the Turbe facility will work

Turbe is designed as a blueprint for future large-scale Power-to-X production plants. The project is divided into two phases:

  • Phase 1 (from 2028): The facility will convert green methanol into 10 tonnes of synthetic jet fuel per day.
  • Phase 2 (from 2031): Production capacity will be scaled up to at least 100 tonnes per day.

The heart of the process is a novel catalytic system based on advances in nanotechnology. Green methanol — produced elsewhere using renewable electricity and captured CO₂ — is fed into the plant, where the catalytic process rearranges its molecular structure into kerosene-grade jet fuel. Because Aerobrew is a drop-in fuel, airlines can use it in existing engines without any modifications.

Why Rotterdam?

The Port of Rotterdam offers world-class port infrastructure, established supply chains for liquid fuels, and strong policy support for the energy transition. The project also aligns with the European Union’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, which sets increasing blending mandates for sustainable aviation fuels across European airports starting in 2025.

Metafuels’ growing momentum

The Dutch grant adds to a wave of recent milestones for the company. In February 2026, Metafuels closed a USD 24 million funding round. CEO Saurabh Kapoor has stated that Aerobrew offers airlines a practical pathway to cutting carbon emissions without changing their operations — a critical selling point in an industry where fleet turnover takes decades.

What this means for the Power-to-X sector

Metafuels‘ progress illustrates a broader trend: Power-to-X is moving from laboratory research to real-world deployment. Government grants, EU regulations like ReFuelEU, and growing private investment are converging to create a viable market for synthetic fuels. For Switzerland, the story is also a reminder that homegrown cleantech innovation — developed at institutions like PSI and funded by federal programmes — can compete on the European stage.

The road to fully decarbonised aviation is long, but projects like Turbe show that the building blocks of a post-fossil fuel system are being put in place, one catalytic reactor at a time.

Source: punkt4.info — “Metafuels erhält von niederländischer Regierung 1,92 Millionen Euro”, 13 April 2026. Read the original article (German)