The Allplane Podcast #130 with Mukund Karanjikar, CleanJoule founder and CEO
The world badly needs sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and, fortunately, there is not shortage of entrepreneurs willing to take on the challenge to scale up production. Now, are all SAF pathways the same? Of course not.
Today on the podcast we will talk with Mukund Karanjikar, founder and CEO of CleanJoule, a SAF startup based in Utah that is developing a SAF production method that delivers more joules of energy per unit of fuel mass than other traditional biogenic pathways.
What’s more, not content with powering a commercial aviation industry that is thirsty for SAF, CleanJoule is also developing biogenic SAF for space travel. So, when it comes to CleanJoule, you could well say that the sky is not the limit!
The prospect of clean space travel is quite interesting by itself, but, of course, there are other considerations too, such as cost and strategic independence and, on these two counts, CleanJoule is also ready to deliver, says Mukund.
So, in today’s episode we are going to learn a bit more about CycloSAF and CycloRP, the two flavours of sustainable aviation fuel that CleanJoule is developing (for the aviation and space industries, respectively) and how CleanJoule plans to roll out and scale production before the end of this decade.
We will also talk about the positioning of CleanJoule is the broader and constantly evolving SAF industry landscape and why this startup has got the attention of prominent investors such as Indigo Partners (a private equity firm which owns a global portfolio of low-cost airlines) and Temasek (one of Singapore’s most prominent groups).
So, tune in for a fascinating talk with Mukund Karanjikar of CleanJoule about one of the most promising technologies I have seen so far in the field of SAF!
Get this episode on:
Things we talk about in this episode
Mukund’s professional background as a scientist and entrepreneur
The story of CleanJoule: more than a decade in the making
What is unique about CleanJoule’s pathway to make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
Sustainable aviation fuel for space travel
Moving from experimental to industrial scale production
Which A-tier aerospace companies have invested in CleanJoule
Next milestones for CleanJoule
Resources
Podcast episode with Yvonne Moynihan, of Wizz Air, talking about the airline’s investments in the SAF space, such as CleanJoule and Firefly, and a summary of its sustainability strategy
How CleanJoule’s SAF can fuel space rockets
Types of fuel mentioned in the conversation:
Indigo Partners, the private equity group which owns significant stakes in a portfolio of low-cost airlines (Wizz Air, Volaris, Frontier, SmartJet) and has invested in CleanJoule+
GenZero and Temasek, another two of CleanJoule’s investors
Podcast Music: Five Armies by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3762-five-armies
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Interview Transcript:
(please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)
