DENVER, Colo. (WGHP) – Boom Supersonic’s plans to propel its passenger jet with carbon-neutral fuel accelerated on Tuesday when the company announced a deal with a fuel provider for its test flights.

Boom, which in January broke ground at Piedmont Triad International Airport for the factory where it will build its Overture supersonic transport jet, will receive 5 million gallons a year of carbon-neutral fuel from Dimensional Energy, starting in 2027.

Boom said in its announcement that Dimensional, an Arizona-based environmental lab, produces fuel from carbon dioxide that is net-zero and that the fuel will be tested in the Symphony engine Boom is building, in a 3-company partnership announced last year, during test flights of Overture.

“At Boom, we believe sustainable aviation fuel will be essential to the transformation of air travel,” President and CEO Kathy Savitt said in the company’s release. “Our new collaboration with Dimensional Energy represents another important step to making sustainable supersonic flight a reality for millions of passengers in the coming years.”

The release said that United Airlines, with which Boom has a contract to produce 15 Overture jets by 2029, with an option on 35 more,  also has a contract with Dimensional to purchase 300 million gallons of the fuel over a 20-year period.

Boom in 2022 released an Environmental Sustainability Report that described the role that sustainable aviation fuel – commonly referred to as SAF – will play in reaching a net-carbon zero climate. The company’s business plan for Overture – and for its factory in Greensboro – is to do everything at that level.

The “sustainable aviation fuel” is described by the U.S. Department of Energy as being made from “renewable biomass and waste resources,” which could be corn, algae or wood products.

But Dimensional Energy uses carbon dioxide in “proprietary technology,” and the release from Boom explained in scientific detail the foundation of the fuel based on the Fischer-Tropsch process, which Boom calls “a century-old proven method” and says that the company “has already proven that its unique method can effectively produce the net zero carbon SAF from recycled carbon dioxide.”

Dimensional on its website said it has found everything it needs to make carbon-neutral fuels in the air. “With carbon dioxide and water as our only ingredients, we can replace everything that is currently made via oil and natural gas extraction,” the company says.

“Boom and Dimensional Energy share a vision for the future of sustainable aviation,” Dimensional CEO and co-founder Jason Salfi said in the release. “Overture has the potential to completely transform how we experience the world, and we are excited to play a critical role in its net zero flight test program, and beyond.”

Said United Airlines President Mike Leskinen: “United Airlines is committed to decarbonizing our operations by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets. …  Boom’s purchase agreement with Dimensional sends an important demand signal that the market for SAF has never been stronger.”  

Symphony engine

Boom, which had struggled to find an engine provider, in December announced it would build that engine – which will be called Symphony – in a deal with Florida Turbine Technologies, which is a subsidiary of Kratos Turbine, a company with a long history of building commercial and defense engines, General Electric Additives, a technology leader, and StandardAero, an engine maintenance company.

The Overture will use four of the Symphony engines to reach a speed of Mach 1.7, which is roughly 1304.36 miles per hour. That’s slightly slower than the now-retired Concorde, which reached 1,350 miles, but it’s sufficient to get passengers from New York to London in 3.5 hours, the company says.

Boom suggests that its jet will fly more than 500 routes to destinations around the world, with a range of 4,888 miles.

Boom at PTI

Boom received about $130 million in government incentives to invest $500 million to build Overture at PTI. The company will hire 1,761 employees during the next five years at an average minimum annual salary of $68,000.

Boom has a 40-year lease and has turned earth on 61 acres just north and east of the main terminal. Scholl said there would be a formal ground-breaking next year, and Boom has an option on a second parcel at PTI.

Boom founder Blake Scholl has said the company will meet its goal of having the factory open in 2024 and the first jets in the air for FAA approval by 2027. In addition to United the company has contracts with American Airlines, Japan Airlines and the United States Air Force through Grumman Northrup as its customers. Boom plans to have its first passengers in the air by 2029.