Carbon Neutral Fuels
Technology integrator aiming to produce synthetic fuels for hard-to-decarbonise industries, including the aviation and maritime sectors.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
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| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 Valuation: €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
* | £7.4m | Grant | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) is a UK-based company positioned to address the challenge of decarbonizing the aviation and maritime sectors. Founded in November 2022 by Alasdair Lumsden and Sophie Zienkiewicz, the company originated from a shared ambition to make a tangible impact on climate change after the co-founders met at the COP26 climate conference. The firm operates as a technology integrator, developing facilities to produce sustainable e-fuels, which serve as a direct, drop-in replacement for conventional fossil fuels like jet kerosene.
The core of CNF's business model revolves around a Power-to-Liquid (PtL) process. This involves combining green hydrogen, produced via electrolysis powered by low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar, with captured carbon dioxide. The CO2 is sourced directly from the atmosphere using Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, ensuring the resulting synthetic fuel is carbon neutral. The company's main clients are in hard-to-electrify industries, primarily aviation and long-haul transport. CNF's strategy includes designing modular and scalable e-fuel facilities that can be licensed globally to regional producers of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
A key milestone is the 'ASAP-DAC' project, a consortium with partners io consulting and Mission Zero Technologies, which aims to build a commercial-scale SAF facility. This project has secured significant grant funding from the UK Government's Department for Transport's Advanced Fuels Fund. In July 2025, the company was awarded a £6 million grant to complete the Front-End Engineering Design for a new facility in Workington, Cumbria. This plant, expected to be operational by 2031, aims to produce 25,000 tonnes of eSAF per year. Additionally, CNF secured a £1 million investment from the British travel company Trailfinders in late 2024 to accelerate this design work. The company has also participated in accelerator programs, including those run by NatWest and Shell, to refine its business model.
Keywords: sustainable aviation fuel, e-fuels, power-to-liquid, direct air capture, green hydrogen, decarbonization, carbon neutral, synthetic fuels, clean-tech, renewable energy