Press release
From the Sea to the Sky: United Invests $5 Million in Algae-based Fuel Producer Viridos
Viridos' technology extracts algae oil from algae for potential future production of sustainable aviation fuel United has invested in more future SAF
About this update from United Airlines Holdings, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Viridos' technology extracts algae oil from algae for potential future production of sustainable aviation fuel\nUnited has invested in more future SAF production than any other airline1\nViridos investment is first by airline's new UAV Sustainable Flight Fund since its launch\nCHICAGO, March 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- United wants to turn microalgae into SAF through the first new investment of its recently announced UAV Sustainable Flight FundSM since its launch: algae biofuel company Viridos. This $5 million investment will support the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from algae, an abundant and scalable resource that can be grown and harvested without impacting the food supply chain.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nViridos specializes in the bioengineering of microalgae and its proprietary technology accelerates the amount of oil that can produced from microalgae. This algae oil could then be used to scale the future production of SAF.\nSAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone.¹ SAF is made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and, in the future, could be made from other feedstocks, including household trash, forest waste, or algae. To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF - the most of any airline in the world.²\n\"SAF is proven, scalable, and the best tool we have to reduce our carbon emissions from flying, but we face a significant shortage of available feedstock,\" said United Airlines Ventures President Mike Leskinen. \"As the global aviation leader in SAF production investment United remains committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions, without relying on traditional carbon offsets, by 2050. Viridos' algae-based biofuel technology has the potential to help solve our supply problem without the need for farmland or other agricultural resources and marks our inaugural investment in our new cross-industry UAV Sustainable Flight Fund.\"\nViridos, a biofuel company focused on decarbonizing industries, is leading the bioengineering of microalgae and has already achieved seven times the oil productivity compared to typical wild-type algae. This creates an opportunity for potentially scalable and more sustainable producti...