Canadian Company Turns Seawater into Sustainable Aviation Fuel

A Canadian company developing sustainable aviation fuel in Cape Breton says producing several valuable products together could help overcome one of the sector’s toughest barriers: making synthetic fuel reliably and commercially viable.

Aeon Blue cofounder and chief technology officer Deóis “Yoshi” Ua Cearnaigh told Energi Media the company is adapting saltwater electrolysis to produce fuel ingredients while capturing carbon dioxide from air. Its proposed business model combines aviation fuel with other products, including ingredients for rocket fuel.

“What we did is we cracked that code by making a suite of products, all of which are valuable, and allow us to be economically viable,” he said.

That is the company’s commercial proposition. The interview did not provide independently verified production costs or operating results from a commercial facility.

Adapting Established Industrial Chemistry

Ua Cearnaigh said the underlying chemistry is widely used in water treatment and other industries. Aeon Blue’s work involves adapting that technology for fuel production and improving its ability to operate with variable renewable electricity.

“I didn’t invent saltwater electrolysis. This is a known thing. I adapted saltwater electrolysis for the applications that we needed it,” he said.

He described equipment durability and tolerance for impurities as important challenges when moving beyond laboratory conditions. The company’s approach, he argued, is designed to address those practical constraints alongside efficiency and cost.

Cape Breton Offers Industrial Advantages

Ua Cearnaigh pointed to Cape Breton’s wind resources, access to ports and industrial workforce as advantages for developing the project. Skills from older industries could support the island’s transition into new manufacturing activities, he said.

He also emphasized the importance of Mi’kmaq support for clean fuels and environmental stewardship. Access to capital remains a challenge, while loan guarantees and financing support could help commercialization, he said.

Although wind helped shape the technology’s development, Ua Cearnaigh said the initial electricity approach would involve solar and renewable energy credits because they are easier to deploy.

“It doesn’t make sense to use any dirty electricity to make a clean fuel,” he said.

Commercial Scale Remains the Next Test

The interview outlined ambitions to expand from roughly a thousand litres annually to several million litres. However, the discussion included different production targets and timelines, leaving the precise expansion schedule unclear.

Ua Cearnaigh described pilots and commercial deployments as milestones along a path to full commercialization within years, but declined to specify exactly what was happening at the time of the interview.

He also said Aeon Blue captures more carbon dioxide than it requires for its fuels, describing the process as carbon negative. The interview did not establish a complete emissions balance or provide details of a permanent storage arrangement for surplus carbon.

Those details matter when assessing the climate claim. Captured carbon used in fuel returns to the atmosphere when burned; a net removal claim requires accounting for production emissions and the fate of the additional captured carbon.

For Cape Breton, the opportunity is a new industry built around electricity, industrial chemistry and fuel manufacturing. Aeon Blue’s next challenge is demonstrating that its proposed economics can survive the move to sustained commercial production.

End Note: Related Energi Media Coverage

1. Making Aviation Fuel With Synthetic Biology. In this video interview with John McDougall, Markham Hislop explores SynBioBlox’s work engineering microorganisms to produce sustainable aviation fuel—another Canadian approach to replacing petroleum-based jet fuel.
2. Where Electric Aviation Can Compete. Watch the interview with Kyle Hodgson of SkyZero for a complementary look at aircraft electrification, including Canadian companies developing electric and hybrid aircraft and the charging infrastructure they require.
3. Can Québec’s Rocks Solve Hydrogen’s Cost Problem? Read the story or watch the interview with Stéphane Dallaire. Vema Hydrogen’s proposed approach differs from Aeon Blue’s, but both face questions about production costs, commercialization and markets for synthetic aviation fuels.
4. U.S. Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production Takes Off as New Capacity Comes Online. This U.S. Energy Information Administration article republished by Energi Media provides a May 2025 snapshot of expanding biofuel-based SAF capacity and the incentives supporting investment.
5. Canada’s Carbon Dioxide Removal Industry Begins to Take Shape. Read Energi Media’s overview for context on direct air capture, permanent storage and the measurement needed to establish credible carbon removal—important considerations when assessing claims of carbon-negative fuels.