Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is the holy grail for cleaner aviation, but no one has yet managed to make its production cost-effective. Yordi Beelen, co-founder of Aefir Labs, is developing the technology that will finally change that. Based in the South Holland ecosystem, he is working on what he believes will become the new efficiency standard in green chemistry.
The problem that nobody solved
The aviation industry faces a massive challenge. Due to weight distribution and current battery technology, electric flight is not yet an option for long distances, while emissions regulations in Europe are rapidly becoming stricter. e-SAF, a sustainable fuel made from CO2 and green hydrogen, offers the solution: it reduces net CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle by about 90%.
However, there is one major problem. “The technology to convert CO2 and hydrogen into liquid jet fuel already exists, but it is currently about six to eight times as expensive as regular fossil kerosene,” Beelen explains.
Without a radical price reduction, SAF will not see widespread adoption. The key to that price reduction lies in chemistry, specifically in catalysts: the essential materials that enable and accelerate the chemical reactions in the production process. If you make them more efficient, the entire supply chain—and thus the fuel—becomes cheaper.
The Pivot's Hard Lesson
The startup’s story began with a completely different plan. Under its former name, Nera, which stood for No Emission Regional Airport, the team wanted to build compact facilities that would allow regional airports to produce their own fuel in a self-sufficient manner.
“At first, we thought we could build those compact systems,” Beelen explains. “We’d done a lot of detailed calculations, put in a lot of time, and you end up getting emotionally attached to that idea. And then the calculations showed that it wasn’t financially feasible.” The fuel produced by these plants will simply become unaffordable.”
“We had become emotionally attached to the idea of having our own factories, but the numbers left us no room for hesitation,” Beelen recalls. “That hard lesson did, however, help us find the real key to scaling up. With AI, we’re now tackling the chemical bottleneck right at the source.”
Innovation Through "Worthless" Data
What makes Aefir Labs unique in the world of chemistry is the combination of large-scale testing and artificial intelligence. Whereas traditional research tests similar materials one by one, the startup takes a more comprehensive approach.
“I think our greatest strength lies in combining very high-volume testing with artificial intelligence,” says Beelen. “We want to be able to test sixteen reactions at once and develop an AI model that can predict which reaction will be the most successful, so that it can guide which materials we test.”
They hope this will reduce the development time for a new catalyst from five years to just a few months. To do so, they’re using an unconventional method: They’re training their AI specifically on failed experiments. “In the literature on catalyst development, only what works gets published. If you’re going to train an AI and you don’t have all the failed experiments, it will take a very long time to converge on what you want. That’s why we’re going to use all the ‘worthless’ data as well.”
From the labs in Delft to the community in Leiden
Although Aefir Labs operates in the fields of heavy hardware and chemistry, they found their business foundation at the PLNT startup incubator in Leiden. At first, the team sometimes felt like a “black swan” there among the many medical and IT companies, but the community has proven to be worth its weight in gold. Through the internal community app, they connected with Mutable Labs, an AI company in the same building, with which they are now exploring a potential partnership.
At the same time, the company’s technological hub is located at TU Delft. After all, testing reactions involving flammable liquids and explosive gases under high pressure requires specialized laboratories—essentially concrete bunkers with heavy steel doors. Delft offers these facilities in a lab that aims to transform itself into a knowledge center for SAF over the next five years.
For Yordi, the connection between the cities makes sense. While he looks to Delft and the surrounding regions for chemical infrastructure and partners such as Lelystad Airport, he sees untapped potential in Leiden for his future team. It is precisely Leiden University, with its strong focus on mathematics and advanced computer science, that can provide the AI talent the startup is so desperately seeking. After all, the biggest challenge is finding “crossover” talent: chemists who can program, or programmers who understand chemistry.
Phased Growth
Yordi’s entrepreneurial journey began when co-founder Jan Willem Heinen literally plucked him from the Delft faculty. The decision to become an entrepreneur was an exciting one at the time, but the book Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman gave Yordi the final push.
“Entrepreneurship is risky, and you have to take risks,” he says. “But then again, I really don’t think the risks are that big right now, because I just live in a rental and I can pay my rent.”
To maintain control and avoid direct dependence on millions in investments from venture capitalists, the company follows a two-pronged strategy. In the short term, they focus on consulting: optimizing catalyst processes for major chemical companies, which generates immediate revenue and builds a network. In the long term, they are building their own intellectual property (IP) by patenting unique catalyst compositions and reactors.
The Dream
The new name, Aefir Labs, marks the company’s maturation and its more focused direction. “Nera stood for No Emission Regional Airport, and we also didn’t want to step on the toes of the Netherlands Energy Research Alliance,” Yordi explains. “We thought ‘Ae’ fit well with aerospace, and ‘fir’ sounds a bit like ‘fire’ and the burning of fuels. ‘Labs’ refers to our focus on laboratory work involving catalysts.”
Within five years, Aefir Labs aims to have helped at least three major companies make the transition from fossil-fuel-based to sustainable processes. But the chemical engineer’s ultimate dream goes even further.
“Secretly, I still dream of building my own factory. That’s a moonshot. As a chemical engineer, you’re used to working in the lab or doing calculations for a kiloton-scale plant. It seems really cool to me to go from a calculation to a large, physical plant in real life.”
What can you do right now to fly more sustainably?
“If you’re flying yourself, choose to purchase a percentage of SAF when you book your ticket,” advises Beelen. “It’s still more expensive right now, but by creating that demand now, you’re helping the entire industry scale up faster. That way, together we’ll move faster toward sustainable aviation.”
This interview was written in collaboration with Key Region Leiden.
