From construction plans to production
INERATEC broke ground at Industriepark Höchst with Hesse Economy Minister Tarek Al-Wazir in April 2023. The project was presented as Germany's first large-scale industrial Power-to-Liquid (PtL) plant, designed to turn CO2 and green hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons known as e-fuels.
The original schedule called for commissioning to begin at the end of 2023 and production to start in 2024, with annual output of up to 2,500 metric tons. Manufacturing of the modules had begun in Karlsruhe in summer 2022, ahead of their phased installation in Frankfurt.
On May 13, 2025, INERATEC announced that the facility had made its first liters of synthetic e-fuels and e-waxes, marking the start of industrial production. The company formally inaugurated the plant as ERA ONE on June 3, 2025, several weeks after operations began.
INERATEC describes ERA ONE as Europe's largest plant of its kind, designed to produce up to 2,500 metric tons of carbon-neutral e-fuels annually. The company says the facility will reach 7 MW of total capacity and its planned annual output once all three modules are installed.
Site infrastructure and financing
The Höchst industrial park supplies both feedstocks, according to INERATEC: CO2 from a waste-recycling biogas plant and hydrogen produced as a by-product at an existing chlorine production facility. Site operator Infraserv Höchst cited its experience with hydrogen technology and the opportunity to integrate the new plant into the park's production network.
At the groundbreaking, INERATEC said it was investing more than €30 million in construction, with support from the German federal environment ministry's Environmental Innovation Program. It also said additional plants were being planned.
A separate €70 million financing package was formally agreed on March 5, 2025, and announced at the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg. It combined a €40 million venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank with a €30 million grant from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst for the Frankfurt plant.
Aviation demand and limits on e-fuel use
At the 2023 groundbreaking, Al-Wazir described the project as Germany's largest pilot plant for synthetic kerosene. Its purpose, he said, was to gain experience for mass production by making the fuel on a substantially larger scale. He argued that energy conservation and efficiency must remain the priority, with scarce e-fuels directed toward uses that cannot be electrified directly, particularly aviation and shipping.
INERATEC CEO Tim Böltken placed the project within the company's broader approach to Power-to-X technology: using modular, scalable plants at locations with inexpensive renewable electricity and adapting them to local requirements.
For aviation, INERATEC points to the EU's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, which requires airlines to use a minimum e-SAF blend of 1.2% by 2030. The company presents ERA ONE's output as a response to that demand. As an indication of aviation's fuel requirements, it says a single long-haul flight between Frankfurt and New York uses 80 metric tons of kerosene.
Upgrading, first flight and certification
According to INERATEC, the International Energy Agency highlighted ERA ONE in its Global Hydrogen Review 2025 among the year's first-of-their-kind projects and demonstration successes. The company dates that recognition to October 2025.
On December 10, 2025, INERATEC announced the selection of engineering firm Ramboll as its engineering, procurement and construction management partner for ERA ONE's upgrading unit. The proposed unit would process Fischer-Tropsch crude at the Frankfurt site into certified drop-in e-SAF and other compliant e-fuels. The first phase covers hydroisomerization, hydrocracking and distillation, including their integration into the plant's existing production lines.
INERATEC reports that a flight on June 8, 2026, used sustainable aviation fuel based on its e-SAF. The company describes it as the first operational use of its e-SAF in a flight.
The ISCC EU certification followed on June 22, 2026. INERATEC says it confirms compliance with internationally recognized sustainability and traceability standards and provides the basis for marketing ERA ONE's e-fuels.
