SK Innovation, Korea’s first and largest energy·chemical company, has invested $20 million in Fulcrum BioEnergy, a U.S. biofuels producer that gasifies landfill waste to produce low-carbon transportation fuels.
Based in Pleasanton, Calif., Fulcrum is commercializing a process to produce synthetic crude oil from household garbage for the first time in the United States. In July 2021, the company completed construction of the world’s first synthetic crude oil plant in Nevada, with an annual capacity of 11 million gallons per year. Fulcrum plans to upgrade the syncrude to sustainable aviation fuel in the future.
SK Innovation and Fulcrum BioEnergy will jointly consider the exploration of select Asian markets for “converting waste into fuel.” SK Innovation will focus on developing and obtaining the next-generation technology, enabling the conversion through business and technical cooperation.
The investment builds on a previous $50 million joint investment