Officials and industry guests packed into Moses Lake on Wednesday as carbon transformation company Twelve cut the ribbon on AirPlant One, the firm’s first U.S. commercial facility that turns carbon dioxide into jet fuel. The plant uses CO2, water and renewable electricity to produce a drop-in synthetic jet fuel dubbed E-Jet, company leaders said. Organizers cast the launch as a major moment for Washington’s clean-energy and aerospace economies.
Plant moves into commercial production
Twelve announced that AirPlant One has started commercial production of E-Jet and an associated feedstock called E-Naphtha, and said the fuel meets ASTM specifications for use in passenger aircraft, according to a press release on StreetInsider. The company said on-spec fuel is already being delivered and will be used by commercial carriers on domestic routes.
How the carbon-to-fuel chemistry works
Twelve’s e-manufacturing system relies on an electrochemical reactor that converts carbon dioxide and water into hydrocarbon molecules. Hydrogen is supplied through water electrolysis powered with renewable electricity. The Moses Lake facility was designed to start at roughly five barrels per day, about 40,000 gallons a year, with plans to scale capacity, and construction added jobs during the buildout, as reported by BusinessWire.
Partners, politics and local impact
State leaders and industry partners framed the opening as both a vote of confidence in Washington’s emerging sustainable aviation fuel hub and a potential source of long-term clean manufacturing jobs, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology. Gov. Bob Ferguson highlighted the ribbon-cutting on social media, calling the Moses Lake facility the state’s and the nation’s first plant that turns CO2 into jet fuel; his remarks are posted on Facebook.
What it means in the bigger aviation picture
For all the fanfare, experts note that the Moses Lake plant is still a proof-of-concept player in a very large market. Global production of sustainable aviation fuel reached roughly 1 million tonnes in 2024, or about 0.3% of total jet fuel, according to a policy review by the ICCT. Technical assessments also point out that power-to-liquid e-fuels are energy intensive and expensive, and that their net climate benefits depend heavily on how clean the electricity is, a caveat underscored in a 2022 review in Sustainable Energy & Fuels.
Bottom line for Moses Lake
For Moses Lake, AirPlant One is an early test of whether the region’s clean-power resources and aerospace supply chain can anchor a new manufacturing niche. Twelve says the facility proves its approach at commercial scale. The coming months will show whether production levels, costs and lifecycle emissions line up with what the company and state leaders are hoping for.
