Fulcrum is a company making low-carbon, low-cost, transportation fuels from household garbage, using household trash as a feedstock - diverting large volumes of waste from local landfills - and produces clean fuels with a focus on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).

The company developed a proprietary and proven process for converting landfill waste into net-zero carbon transportation fuels. For this, the company has identified more than ten future plant locations in the U.S. with the capacity to produce ~400 M gallons of SAF each year. The process uses gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technologies to produce the fuels.

How it works?

1. Instead of going to the landfill, household garbage is redirected to a Feedstock Processing Facility, where metals and other inorganic materials are separated from organic waste and recycled or disposed of at the landfill. The processing system then sizes, sorts, processes and dries the organic waste, producing a light ""confetti-like"" feedstock that is ready for gasification at the Biorefinery.
2. During the gasification process, the waste is heated in a low-oxygen environment and reacts with steam in a bubbling bed gasifier to form CO and H2 molecules. Additional equipment were added to the gasification system to helps convert unreacted material, maximizing syngas production.
3. The syngas is then cleaned-up by removing particulate, acid gas and excess water in a wet scrubbing process. Additional syngas clean-up steps remove unwanted impurities and adjust the carbon monoxide and hydrogen ratio in the syngas so that it is ready for processing in the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) system.
4. The FT, process utilizes a catalyst filled tubular reactor to convert the CO and H2 in the syngas into a mixture of paraffinic hydrocarbons, or syncrude, which is then separated from the unreacted syngas, and flows through to the upgrading process. The unreacted syngas is recycled back through the FT Reactor for conversion to syncrude, increasing the efficiency and yield of the process.
5. Finally, there is an upgrading process that cracks the syncrude down into smaller chain hydrocarbons where the jet fuel or diesel fraction is separated from the mixture and longer chained hydrocarbons are recycled back to the hydrocracker for further processing.

The company has signed agreements with WM and Waste Connections, Inc. for long-term waste supply. And then has entered into long-term product off-take agreements with strategic partners in the aviation industry (Japan Airlines, United Airlines, among others). These agreements provide for Fulcrum to sell approximately 290 million gallons of SAF and other renewable fuels annually. Additionally, Fulcrum has partnered with SK Innovation to explore the possibilities of bringing Fulcrum’s patented and proprietary waste-to-fuels process to South Korea and select countries in Asia.

Fulcrum Bioenergy has raised a total of $261M in funding over 10 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Dec 16, 2021 from a Venture round. The company was funded by 7 investors. SK Holdings and Air BP are the most recent investors. They have a post-money valuation in the range of $500M to $1B as of Dec 31, 2011, according to PrivCo.

Fulcrum is advancing on its large commercial growth program of net-zero carbon waste-to-fuels plants across North America with a planned production capacity of ~400 million gallons per year. With one plant already up and running and three underway, Fulcrum is looking to build, own and operate the plants. Additionally, the privately held company, has aligned itself and entered into strategic relationships with industry leaders in the waste, aviation and energy sectors to further strengthen and accelerate the Company's patented and proprietary approach to commercially producing large volumes of renewable fuel from landfill waste.

Finally, Fulcrum has also entered agreements with Blue Arrow SAF to license their plants in Mexico and Brazil.

• The company uses Landfill waste which is abundant, low cost and accessible (Landfill waste has a mature collection, sorting and delivery infrastructure in place).
• Offtake agreements with waste management organizations to improve logistics

In May 2022, Fulcrum started operations at the world’s first commercial-scale plant located in Nevada, converting household garbage into renewable transportation fuels. The Sierra BioFuels Plant will produce approximately 11 million gallons of renewable, low carbon syncrude each year from 175,000 tons of landfill waste.

Additionally, the company is developing three other facilities in the USA:

• One located just outside of Chicago is currently under development, with permitting and engineering underway. Construction is expected to begin in 2023.
• Located on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Trinity Fuels Plant is currently under development with siting identified and engineering underway.
• Fulcrum NorthPoint is being actively developed at the Essar Stanlow Manufacturing Complex in Cheshire, in the North West of England. Operations are expected to start in the first quarter of 2027.

The company also has two partnership to explore new markets:

• With SK Innovation: in South Korea and other Asian nations
• With Blue Arrow SAF: in Mexico and Brazil