A Bucks County company makes jet fuel out of ‘air.’ The military wants to make it anywhere

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Greg Constantine says his Bucks County company can turn air and water into fuel for jet planes, boats and military vehicles — and with far less impact on the climate than conventional fossil fuel production.

Constantine and his team at Airco unveiled their new manufacturing plant at a New Britain industrial park Wednesday. The facility has a system that combines carbon dioxide and hydrogen to generate synthetic fuels, which the company plans to produce in compact, mobile units that the U.S. military can install anywhere in the world.

“A long as we’ve had fuel, it’s always worked the same way: You find it in the ground and you refine it somewhere far away, and then you transport it, and every stop along that transportation piece adds costs and adds vulnerability,” he said, referring to attacks on military supply lines. “What if you didn’t have to move that fuel at all? What if you could produce it exactly where it is needed?”

The U.S. government is supporting the 9-year-old firm with $80 million in contracts and funding, and Airco reports $110 million in additional backing from airlines, Toyota Ventures and other investors. Constantine said the Air Force, Navy and Army have tested the fuels, and that Airco expects to see its first deployment on a government site next year.