Houston company's $2B carbon-negative fuel project to rise in Southeast Texas

eyes on SAF

Pathway Energy has announced a major sustainable aviation fuel project in Port Arthur, Texas. Rendering courtesy of Pathway Energy

Houston developer of ultra carbon-negative fuels projects Pathway Energy announced a series of commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facilities with the first being based in Port Arthur, Texas.

The project, estimated to be valued at $2 billion, will be one of the largest decarbonization projects in the world.

Pathway plans to bring commercial SAF to market with its years of experience in waste and biomass conversion processes and technologies that include biomass gasification, Fischer-Tropsch, biomass power generation, and complex biorefinery and industrial processes. Pathway will be working with companies like Sumitomo SHI FW, who will supply the project with gasification process technology packages and power production. Pathway Energy also announced a strategic partnership with Drax Global, which is a biomass feedstock provider.

"We are happy to debut with the best technology and industrial partners in the industry on a market opportunity with global significance," Steve Roberts, CEO of Pathway Energy, says in a news release. "With the ultra negative carbon intensity achieved through our process, Pathway Energy is poised to lead a global market for ultra negative fuels, driving large scale emission reductions across the aviation sector."

In the Port Arthur project, Pathway plans to leverage sustainable biomass feedstock and access to geological storage to sequester carbon and to produce its ultra carbon-negative SAF. The site location already is equipped with industrial scale import and export logistics including established truck, rail, barge, and pipeline access. Pathway will develop a platform of commercial-scale facilities in areas with a high potential for geological storage to utilize BECCS (Biomass Energy Carbon Capture and Storage) and gasification technology to capture and store carbon, according to a news release.

The market for sustainable aviation fuel uses imported, used cooking oil (UCO HEFA). UCO HEFA SAF can’t materially decarbonize aviation since its constrained supply and positive carbon intensity score. Pathway’s ultra carbon-negative fuel is synthetic drop-in jet fuel that achieves a 550% reduction of carbon compared to traditional jet fuel, which is an industry first. Pathway believes this can abate as much as 6,000 flights a year.

Pathway uses an ultra-negative SAF, which carriers require less SAF to achieve emissions reduction as HEFA, which translates to emissions reduction, and lower cost of operations. The aviation industry can potentially achieve up to 8 times more emissions reductions compared to HEFA SAF.

“We saw the opportunity to provide carriers a pathway to completely decarbonize their flights with our net zero blended fuel," Joshua Pearson, Pathway CTO, adds. "This is a new type of SAF production that is 7-9 (times) more carbon negative than the SAF on the market today and represents the most sustainable, cost efficient and de-risked path to decarbonize global aviation.”

From Your Site Articles

Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines Ventures, says it's his job to accelerate the airline's mission to decarbonize operations. Photo via LinkedIn

How United Airlines got into the sustainable energy biz

funding SAF

While someone might not immediately make the connection between aviation and the energy transition, United Airlines understands the importance of more sustainable fuel — and has put its money where its mouth is.

According to an International Energy Agency report, the aviation accounted for 2 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions last year. Earlier this year, United Airlines launched a fund that called for collaboration across the industry.

After only five months, the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund SM increased to nearly $200 million and added new financial partners, airlines, and more. The fund takes on funding from its 13 limited partners and exists separately from United's core business operations.

Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines Ventures, says it's his job to accelerate the airline's mission to decarbonize operations. He explains that working together on the fund is the key for advancing sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.

"We all recognize that we may compete in our core business, but with the importance of sustainable aviation fuel and given that it's an industry that doesn't exist — you can't compete for something that doesn't exist — let's collaborate and work together to explore technologies that can directly or indirectly support the commercialization and production of sustainable aviation fuel," he says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

United Airlines also recently signed an offtake agreement with Cemvita Factory, a Houston biotech startup that's working on SAF. Chang discusses this partnership on the show, as well as explaining how he works with other startups and what he's looking for.

The offtake agreement and the fund are just two examples of how United is building to a more sustainable future. As Chang explains on the show, the aviation industry hasn't evolved too much over the past three or four decades.

"It's been a challenging market," he says, blaming the ever-evolving macroeconomic conditions for providing challenges for the airline, taking away its focus from new technologies. "But I think we are at a point where the industry is in a healthier place, the sector has consolidated, we are supported by our consumers, and we are now empowered with the financial and strategic capital to think ahead."

———

This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

8 Houston energy companies land on Time's top greentech list for 2025

top honor

The accolades keep rolling in for Houston-based Fervo Energy, a producer of geothermal power.

Fervo lands at No. 6 on Time magazine and Statista’s new list of America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2025. The ranking recognizes sustainability-focused companies based on factors such as impact, financial strength, and innovation.

Time notes that Fervo broke ground in 2023 in Utah on what the company claims will be the world’s largest geothermal plant. The plant is scheduled to start supplying carbon-free electricity to the grid next year and to reach its 400-megawatt capacity in three years.

“Technologies like this only make a difference if we deploy them at large-scale in a way that can reduce carbon emissions and increase the reliability of the grid,” Fervo CEO Tim Latimer told Time in 2023.

The startup was named North American Company of the Year by research and consulting firm Cleantech Group for 2025. Fervo topped the Global Cleantech 100, Cleantech Group’s annual list of the world’s most innovative and promising cleantech companies.

Last year, Fervo also made Time’s list of the 200 Best Inventions of 2024. Fervo was recognized in the green energy category for its FervoFlex geothermal power system.

Founded in 2017, Fervo is now a unicorn, meaning its valuation as a private company exceeds $1 billion. The startup’s valuation is estimated at $1.4 billion. According to PitchBook data, the company raised $634 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In all, eight Houston-area companies appear among the top 250 greentech companies ranked by Time and Statista. Other than Fervo, they are:

No. 43 Lancium Technologies, an energy storage and distribution company
No. 50 Solugen, a producer of sustainable chemicals.
No. 56 Quaise Energy, which specializes in terawatt-scale geothermal power.
No. 129 Plus Power, a developer, owner and operator of battery storage projects.
No. 218 Dream Harvest, which promotes sustainable vertical farming.
No. 225 Cemvita, which uses synthetic biology to convert carbon emissions into bio-based chemicals.
No. 226 Syzygy Plasmonics, which decarbonizes chemical production.

Vermont-based BETA Technologies claimed the No. 1 spot. The company manufactures electric aircraft.

Top takeaways from CERAWeek and more energy transition news to know

Trending News

Editor's note: As we approach the end of March, it's time to look back at the hottest energy transition news from the second half of the month. Here are the top five trending EnergyCapital stories from March 14-28, from CERAWeek key takeaways to a look at the Texas grid vs. extreme weather.

1. Houston energy expert shares key takeaways from CERAWeek 2025

Environmental services firm names Houston energy leader to board

Barbara Burger shares her CERAWEEK takeaways with EnergyCapital. Courtesy photo

What a difference a year makes. I have been coming to CERAWeek for as long as I can remember and the Agora track within CERAWeek since it originated. Although freshness likely distorts my thinking, I cannot remember a CERAWeek that seemed so different from the previous year's than this one.

This certainly isn’t a comprehensive summary of the conference, but some of my key take forwards from last week's events. Continue reading Barbara J. Burger's takeaways.

2. Houston-led project earns $1 million in federal funding for flood research

A team of Texas researchers has landed a nearly $1 million NSF grant to address rural flood management challenges with community input. Photo via Getty Images.

A team from Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant under the CHIRRP—or Confronting Hazards, Impacts and Risks for a Resilient Planet—program to combat flooding hazards in rural Texas.

The grant totals just under $1 million, according to a CHIRRP abstract. The proposal includes work that introduces a “stakeholder-centered framework” to help address rural flood management challenges with community input. Continue reading.

3. Can the Texas grid handle extreme weather conditions across regions?

Texans are facing extreme weather at every turn — can the grid withstand these events? Photo via heimdallpower.com

From raging wildfires to dangerous dust storms and fierce tornadoes, Texans are facing extreme weather conditions at every turn across the state. Recently, thousands in the Texas Panhandle-South Plains lost power as strong winds ranging from 35 to 45 mph with gusts upwards of 65 mph blew through. Meanwhile, many North Texas communities are still reeling from tornadoes, thunderstorms, and damaging winds that occurred earlier this month.

With the extreme weather conditions increasing in Texas and nationally, recovering from these disasters will only become harder and costlier. When it comes to examining the grid’s capacity to withstand these volatile changes, we’re past due. As of now, the grid likely isn’t resilient enough to make do, but there is hope. Continue reading Sam Luna's column here.

4. CERAWeek announces winners of annual clean tech pitch competition

The teams at this year's Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition have collectively raised $435 million in funding. Photo courtesy of CERAWeek

Teams from around the world and right here in Houston took home prizes at the fourth annual Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek on March 12. The fast-paced event, put on by Rice Alliance, Houston Energy Transition Initiative and TEX-E, invited 36 industry startups and five Texas-based student teams focused on driving efficiency and advancements toward the energy transition to present at 3.5-minute pitch before investors and industry partners during CERAWeek's Agora program. The competition is a qualifying event for the Startup World Cup, powered by Pegasus Venture, where teams compete for a $1 million investment prize.

The teams at this year's Energy Venture Day have collectively raised $435 million in funding. Rice University student teams took home two of the three top prizes in the competition.Continue reading.

5. New report shows Texas led nation in solar and battery growth in 2024

Texas outpaced all other states in various categories of power generation in 2024, according to a new report from Ember, an energy think tank. File photo

The winds of change in power generation are sweeping through Texas.

Texas outpaced all other states in various categories of power generation in 2024, according to a new report from Ember, an energy think tank. The report shows that Texas contributed more (12 terawatt-hours) to the country’s 64 terawatt-hour rise in solar generation last year than any other state. Continue reading.

Global co. opens state-of-the-art energy innovation hub in Houston

flagship facility

French multinational company Schneider Electric has opened a new 10,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art Energy Innovation Center in Houston.

The new facility is located in Houston’s Energy Corridor and is designed to “foster increased collaboration and technological advancements across the entire value chain,” according to a news release from the company. The new Houston location joins Schneider's existing innovation hubs in Paris, Singapore and Bangalore.

The venue will serve as a training center for process control engineers, production superintendents, manufacturing managers, technical leads and plant operations personnel. It can simulate various real-world scenarios in refineries, combined-cycle power plants, ethylene plants, recovery boilers and chemical reactors.

It includes an interactive control room and artificial Intelligence applications that “highlight the future of industrial automation,” according to the release.

"Digitalization is significantly enhancing the global competitiveness of the U.S. through continuous innovation and increased investment into next-generation technology," Aamir Paul, Schneider Electric's President of North America Operations, said in the release.

Texas has over 4,100 Schneider Electric employees, the most among U.S. states, and has facilities in El Paso, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and other areas.

"This flagship facility in the Energy Capital of the World underscores our commitment to driving the future of software-defined automation for our customers in Houston and beyond,” Paul added in the release. “With this announcement, we are excited to continue supporting the nation's ambitions around competitive, efficient and cost-effective manufacturing."

Schneider Electric says the new Houston facility is part of its expansion plans in the U.S. The company plans to invest over $700 million in its U.S. operations through 2027, which also includes an expansion at its El Paso campus.

The company also announced plans to invest in solar and battery storage systems developed, built, and operated by Houston-based ENGIE North America last year. Read more here.

View All Listings

ENERGYCAPITALHTX EMAILS ARE AWESOME