2023 SAF Magazine Issue 1

35 Billion Gallons of Low Carbon SAF Required within the U.S. by 2050

• Ultralow CI Score

• Additional Revenue Source

• Reduce Operating Costs

• Produce High-Demand Aviation Fuel

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

04 EDITOR'S NOTE

Operation SAF has Commenced

By Anna Simet

05 EVENTS

06 Rising to the Challenge for SAF

By Paul Winters

07 The Hurdles of SAF

By Kenneth Agee

08 NEWS ROUNDUP FEATURES

10 PROFILE

Against the Odds

LanzaTech’s tireless, determined efforts have led to some exciting developments.

By Katie Schroeder

16 PRODUCTION

SAF in the Big Sky State

Once an aging oil refinery, Montana Renewables LLC claims the distinction of being the largest SAF producer on the continent.

By Susanne Retka Schill

20 POLICY Challenge

Accepted

In late January, government agencies provided an overview of the SAF Grand Challenge and roadmap, and an update on progress and future developments.

By Anna Simet

CONTRIBUTIONS

24 R&D

From Concept to Commercialization: NREL’s SAF Program

From early stage technologies to nearer-term projects, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s work is focused on helping reach U.S. SAF production goals.

By Zia Abdullah

26 INDUSTRY

Maximizing the Value in SAF

Green Plains is leading the charge into alcohol-to-jet through optimal business strategy, innovative technology and a firm grasp on the market.

By Todd Becker

28 FEEDSTOCK

Strategizing for a Smooth Landing

The industry must explore new avenues to meet the growing demand for more sustainable aviation fuels

By Kevin O’Neil

Operation SAF has Commenced

When I was first introduced to biofuel journalism nearly 15 years ago, there was so much momentum in regard to developing fuels of the future (i.e., cellulosic ethanol). The conferences I attended, the people with whom I spoke, the pilot facilities I visited—it was a similar message: Industry is almost there...but not yet. I visited a demo plant in Pennsylvania as one of my first asassignments. It was exciting to see, but the company ultimately ran out of money and went defunct. (The technology, however, re-emerged under a new company that’s still around.) The second facility I visited several years later was of a larger scale, but was open only a few years until it, too, closed. And, another commercial plant that came online on a similar timeline, was shuttered and ultimately converted to renewable natural gas.

While the above are examples of the many who have tried and erred—and for some, may have cast a certain degree of skepticism on advanced biofuels—the entire landscape for biofuels has changed in the past several years. Globally, there finally seems to be some real urgency. Now more than ever, governments, companies, academia, scientists, the transportation sector and the public realize that the time to start decarbonizing was yesterday. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been gaining incredible momentum for the past few years, and I think unlike many years ago when the aforementioned facilities floundered, they have a whole lot more of the tools and support essential to the success of new technology and fuels. The SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap, which was released this past fall, is designed to ensure that industry and stakeholders do have the many-faceted support they need to bring U.S. SAF production to the scale it must be to reach goals set in the SAF Grand Challenge.

In January, leads for the government agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration held a webinar discussing the roadmap, how it’s set up, areas of focus, stakeholders involved, and much more. I boil things down in our page-21 feature, "Challenge Accepted."

In our other two features, “SAF in the Big Sky State,” page 10, and “Against the Odds,” page 16, you’ll find the stories of two SAF producers, Calumet's Montana Renewables and LanzaTech, detailing their paths to commercial production. While these two journeys have plenty of commonalities, they are also quite different—for example, LanzaTech has launched a greenfield facility, while Calumet has converted its refinery to renewable diesel, and now, SAF. We couldn’t be prouder to deliver the inaugural issue of SAF Magazine, and from hurdles to success, we look forward to reporting on the progress made toward decarbonizing the global aviation sector.

EDITORIAL EDITOR

Anna Simet | asimet@bbiinternational.com

ONLINE NEWS EDITOR

Erin Voegele | evoegele@bbiinternational.com

STAFF WRITER

Katie Schroeder | katie.schroeder@bbiinternational.com

DESIGN

VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCTION & DESIGN

Jaci Satterlund | jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Raquel Boushee | rboushee@bbiinternational.com

PUBLISHING & SALES

CEO

Joe Bryan | jbryan@bbiinternational.com

PRESIDENT

Tom Bryan | tbryan@bbiinternational.com

VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS/MARKETING & SALES

John Nelson | jnelson@bbiinternational.com

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER/BIOENERGY TEAM LEADER

Chip Shereck | cshereck@bbiinternational.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Bob Brown | bbrown@bbiinternational.com

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Jessica Tiller | jtiller@bbiinternational.com

MARKETING & ADVERTISING MANAGER

Marla DeFoe | mdefoe@bbiinternational.com

2023 Int’l Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

JUNE 12-14,

2023

CHI Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska

From its inception, the mission of this event has remained constant: The FEW delivers timely presentations with a strong focus on commercialscale ethanol production—from quality control and yield maximization to regulatory compliance and fiscal management. The FEW is the ethanol industry’s premier forum for unveiling new technologies and research findings. The program is primarily focused on optimizing grain ethanol operations while also covering cellulosic and advanced ethanol technologies.

(866) 746-8385 | FuelEthanolWorkshop.com

2023 Biodiesel Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel

June 12-14, 2023

CHI Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska

The Biodiesel Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel is a forum designed for biodiesel and renewable diesel producers to learn about cutting-edge process technologies, new techniques and equipment to optimize existing production, and efficiencies to save money while increasing throughput and fuel quality. Produced by Biodiesel Magazine, this world-class event features premium content from technology providers, equipment vendors, consultants, engineers and producers to advance discussion and foster an environment of collaboration and networking through engaging presentations, fruitful discussion and compelling exhibitions with one purpose, to further the biomass-based diesel sector beyond its current limitations.

(866) 746-8385 | BiodieselSummit.com

2023 Carbon Capture & Storage Summit

June 12, 2023

CHI Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska

Capturing and storing carbon dioxide in underground resivoirs has the potential to become the most consequential technological deployment in the history of the broader biofuels industry. Deploying effective carbon capture and storage at biofuels plants will cement ethanol and biodiesel as the lowest carbon liquid fuels commercially available in the marketplace. The Carbon Capture & Storage Summit will offer attendees a comprehensive look at the economics of carbon capture and storage, the infrastructure required to make it possible and the financial and marketplace impacts to participating producers.

(866) 746-8385 | FuelEthanolWorkshop.com

2023 National SAF Conference & Expo

August 29-30, 2023

Minneapolis Convention Center

The National SAF Conference & Expo is designed to promote the development and adoption of practical solutions to produce SAF and decarbonize the aviation sector. Exhibitors will connect with attendees and showcase the latest technologies and services currently offered within the industry. During two days of live sessions, attendees will learn from industry experts and gain knowledge to become better informed to guide business decisions as the SAF industry continues to expand.

(866)746-8385 | NationalSAFConference.com

Rising to the Challenge for SAF

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge is a coordinated effort among multiple federal agencies to scale up production of SAF by midcentury. Renewable fuels like SAF are critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in sectors where alternative low-carbon options won’t be available in the foreseeable future.

The goal is to produce 35 billion gallons per year by 2050, with an interim milestone of 3 billion gallons by 2030. In 2022, SAF production for the U.S. market reached 15 million gallons, with roughly half produced in the United States. Reaching the 2030 goal would require doubling production every single year.

There are multiple technology and feedstock combinations for producing SAF. Significantly, the existing production (and most production planned for the near future) utilizes the hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) pathway—a process similar to renewable diesel production. And while SAF is currently limited to blends with petroleum jet fuel between 5% and 50%, industry participants are working within the ASTM process to certify the HEFA pathway for 100% use in commercial jets.

Several U.S. companies, including World Energy and Diamond Green Diesel, have announced projects that could bring more than 700 million gallons of HEFA SAF capacity online by 2025. Growth of SAF will be tied to growth of the overall biodiesel and renewable diesel industry, including the U.S. agricultural feedstock markets that are partnering with them.

Pioneering SAF efforts are receiving significant policy support, including new tax incentives established by Congress. And the U.S. EPA has approved new feedstocks such as canola and fuel production facilities to participate in the Renewable Fuel Standard program. But significant challenges remain in policy implementation. EPA’s proposed Renewable Fuel Standard volumes for 2023, 2024 and 2025 present one potential roadblock: The agency is proposing very little growth in the RFS advanced biofuel pool over the next three years, undercounting both existing and anticipated production.

Renewable jet fuel projects to date are all approved to generate biomass-based diesel (BBD) D4 RINs, since they displace kerosene distillates. But EPA is proposing an increase of just 190 million gallons in the BBD volumes through 2025. EPA estimates that SAF volumes in the RFS will remain flat at 3.1 million gallons annually over the three-year period, stating, “Feedstock limitations are likely to cause any growth in renewable jet fuel to come at the expense of biodiesel and renewable diesel.”

Despite EPA’s low assessment, feedstock supplies are increasing. In 2022, the clean fuels industry generated 3.6 billion gallons of biodiesel, renewable diesel and SAF qualifying for D4 RINs using existing feedstocks. That represented a 500-milliongallon increase of over 2021, and the industry is set to expand capacity at a similar pace over the next few years. The U.S. soy industry has invested more than $4.75 billion to increase oilseed processing capacity by 33%, or roughly 650 million bushels to provide feedstocks to fuel that growth.

Sustainably grown agricultural feedstocks like soybean and canola are crucial to meet the SAF Grand Challenge, and to expand biodiesel and renewable diesel for other markets—such as rail and shipping—where alternative low-carbon options are not available. Many of the new renewable diesel and SAF facilities plan to use a combination of surplus vegetable oils, recycled cooking oil and animal fats.

Another concern is the U.S. Treasury Department’s implementation of the SAF tax incentive, which is tied to the carbon reductions measured over the fuel’s lifecycle. Treasury has no prior experience in measuring lifecycle carbon emissions. Congress directed Treasury to utilize either the International Civil Aviation Organization’s CORSIA or a similar model, such as Argonne National Lab’s GREET, to score SAF emissions and calculate the appropriate incentive.

Treasury must consistently use the GREET model for SAF, biodiesel and renewable diesel. The most recent GREET modeling incorporates data provided by U.S. renewable diesel producers from actual facility operation. The CORSIA model is built on an old version of the GREET model and uses outdated assumptions about international land use change that unfairly penalize U.S.-grown crops. The GREET model, by comparison, uses up-to-date information supplied by the U.S. industry to model both direct emissions tied to production technology and indirect emissions from feedstocks.

Excluding U.S.-grown crop oils from the tax incentives or the RFS—or from state low-carbon fuel programs—would undermine the goals of the SAF Grand Challenge. It would also short-circuit the critical carbon reduction goals of other industries. Clean Fuels Alliance America is taking a leading role in ensuring that these policies facilitate, rather than derail, the industry’s progress.

Paul Winters

Clean Fuels Alliance America

The Hurdles of SAF

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Roadmap recognizes the importance of the aviation industry and its impact on the overall economy. Decarbonizing this transportation system segment is critical to support the continued growth of the aviation industry and economy. Among many goals set in the roadmap is the U.S. aviation industry reaching net zero carbon by 2050. While light-duty cars and trucks are making a slow transition to electric power, there is no easy electrification option for the aviation sector, which is why deploying new SAF technologies is critical.

The roadmap lists various renewable feedstocks that could be used to make SAF, including biomass sources such as fats, oils and greases (FOG), algae oil and wet waste. Estimated volumes of renewable fuel that can be produced by established technology pathways include: 48.8 billion gallons per year (BGY) from biomass and municipal solid waste; 1.85 BGY from FOG; 3.28 BGY from wet waste; and 24 BGY from algae oil. Thus, the total resource base provided in the roadmap can generate about 78 BGY. These projected yields are conservative with respect to the conversion technology, but it is aggressive to assume 100% of potential feedstocks can be gathered and processed. According to the U.S. EIA, projected U.S. transportation fuel demand in 2050 is about 183 BGY.

To date, projects have been difficult to scale due to distribution of feedstocks. Proposed plants using biomass or MSW tend to be in the 15 million gallons per year (MMgy) to 75 MMgy range. The projects based on FOG have the potential for larger scale, as the feedstock is more easily gathered and transported to a central plant. However, this option is very limited.

Soy oil is an example of an SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap feedstock, but it and other FOGs only account for a portion of 1.85 BGY. Soy oil is extracted from the soy plant leaving meal, which has a market, as does the oil. Farmland is used to plant major crops like soybeans, and the products are used in food markets. Shifting production to increase soy oil for fuel production could disrupt or imbalance food markets, and this tends to limit growth for this feedstock.

Biomass and MSW are more complicated feedstocks to utilize. Once gasified to make synthesis gas, they can be converted into liquid hydrocarbons via Fischer Tropsch (FT) synthesis and further refined into jet and diesel fuel products. Biomass from forest products or crop waste are not as sensitive to the food vs. fuel balance, but they still must be managed. They also have a cost to generate, gather and deliver to a plant. Transportation costs limit the practical size of biomass to renewable fuels projects. Small, distributed projects located near a particular feedstock will be the norm for most plants. Assuming an average size of 35 MMgy, utilizing the total biomass resource base of 48.8 BGY will require about 1,400 biofuel plants. While there is enough fuel potential from this resource base to completely decarbonize the aviation sector, this is only enough fuel for about 27% of our total transportation fuel needs. Based on biomass-to-liquids projects that have been built, an average capital cost of about $350,000 per barrel of daily capacity requires investments nearing $1.2 trillion to transition just 27% of our hydrocarbon products to renewable sources.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in capturing CO2 from ethanol plants, smokestacks or directly from the air or seawater, to split to yield carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen. Water can be split by electrolysis to make hydrogen. Hydrogen and CO (synthesis gas) are the building blocks for FT hydrocarbon products. This pathway represents a virtually unlimited method to recycle fuel products, making them carbon neutral, but it requires a lot of carbon-free energy. With this option, we have no limits on decarbonization. What can be directly electrified will be; the rest can be indirectly electrified with efuels. As a reference point, consider this: Our current electric grid generation capacity is about 1.1 million megawatt-hours (MWh). It must grow to 1.9 million MWh by 2050 to accommodate the anticipated electric vehicles and market growth, and at least an additional 1.1 million MWh to make the liquid transportation fuels needed to completely decarbonize the U.S. And it is only truly decarbonized if the electricity comes from carbon-free sources.

These carbon-neutral fuels will require trillions of dollars in capital investments, resulting in a much higher price than we have been accustomed to paying. Therefore, government incentives in the form of penalties or taxes for not adopting them, or in the form of credits and direct payments to producers, will be required to enable production and growth of these fuels.

The level of commitment from industry and government alike to transition from fossil fuels to electricity or carbon-neutral fuels has grown substantially in recent years. This effort to decarbonize may be led by the aviation industry, but will not stop until all segments are substantially converted.

Kenneth Agee

Founder and President, Emerging Fuels Technology

Darling Ingredients Inc. and Valero Energy Corp. have announced a final investment decision on a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project at the Diamond Green Diesel Port Arthur, Texas, plant, which is owned and operated by Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Valero and Darling.

Upon completion of the project, which is expected in 2025, the DGD Port Arthur plant will have the capability to upgrade approximately 50% of its current 470 MMgy capacity to SAF. The project's estimated cost is approximately $315 million, with half of that attributable to Darling Ingredients. With the completion of this project, DGD is expected to become one of the largest SAF manufacturers in the world.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Feb. 3 signed the Invest in Illinois Act, a legislative package that, in part, creates a $1.50 per gallon SAF purchase tax credit to support its supply and use within the state. The SAF tax credit will become effective June 1 and is currently in place through Jan. 1, 2033. The credit applies to SAF sold to or used by an air carrier. To be eligible for the credit, SAF must achieve a 50% lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction when compared to petroleum-based jet fuel using either the lifecycle methodology for SAF developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, or the most recent version of Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model.

Prior to June 1, 2028, the credit can be claimed for fuel derived from biomass resources, waste streams, renewable energy sources, or gaseous carbon oxides. Beginning on June 1, 2028, the fuel must also be derived from domestic biomass resources. Fuel produced from palm feedstock is not eligible for the credit. The new law also includes a provision that states until July 1, 2033, on an annual basis, no credit may be earned by an air carrier for soybean oil-derived SAF once air carriers in the state have collectively purchased SAF containing 10 million gallons of soybean oil feedstock.

Equilon Enterprises LLC (Shell) and S&W Seed Co. have executed an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) for the purpose of developing novel plant genetics for oil seed cover crops as feedstocks for biofuel production. The JV company, named Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds LLC, will be jointly owned by Shell and S&W.

The JV intends to develop camelina and other oilseed species from which oil and meal can be extracted. S&W will contribute its expertise in seed research, technology, production and processing to the JV, including its seed processing and research facilities in Nampa, Idaho. The JV expects to carry out initial grain production in late 2023.

Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. announced that its United Kingdom subsidiary, Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd., has received a grant of approximately £16.8 million ($20.2 million) from the U.K. Department for Transport Advanced Fuels Fund. The grant, which runs through 2025, will support development of Fulcrum NorthPoint, a residual

waste-to-SAF facility that will be located at the Essar Stanlow Manufacturing Complex in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, in northwest England. Part of the grant will be utilized to fund engineering activities for the plant, which is expected to have the capacity to transform roughly 600,000 metric tons of residual waste into approximately 100 million liters (approx. 26.4 million gallons) of low-carbon SAF per year when it enters operations in 2027.

Boeing has agreed to purchase Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel supplied by EPIC Fuels, Signature Aviation and Avfuel to power its U.S. commercial operations through 2023. These fuel purchases more than double Boeing's SAF procurement from last year. Neste’s SAF will be blended with conventional jet fuel at a 30/70 ratio to produce 5.6 million gallons of blended SAF.

Sasol, a global chemicals and energy company, and Topsoe, a global provider of carbon emission reduction technologies, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the intent to establish a 50/50 joint venture (JV) in 2023 to produce SAF. The companies seek to enhance and enable faster SAF production development through the establishment of the JV, which will produce SAF derived from feedstocks including green hydrogen, sustainable sources of CO2 and biomass, based on Sasol’s Fischer Tropsch process and Topsoe’s relevant SAF technologies.

United Airlines has launched the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle designed to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel by accelerating the research, production and technologies associated with SAF. The fund starts with more than $100 million in investments from United Airlines and its inaugural partners Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase, and Honeywell. Through the fund, these and potentially additional corporate participants will invest alongside United in SAF technology and production startups identified by United. In the past two years alone, United Airlines Ventures has invested in start-ups such as Cemvita, Dimensional Energy, and NEXT Renewable Fuels.

Johnson Matthey and bp reported that their codeveloped Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS technology has been selected by Strategic Biofuels for its project that aims to produce the world’s lowest-carbon-footprint liquid fuel.

The technology has been licensed to Strategic Biofuels for the company’s Louisiana Green Fuels project in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana. Located on a 327-acre site at the Port of Columbia, the LGF plant plans to convert 1 million tons of forestry waste feedstock into cleaner-burning renewable diesel, and is projected to produce 31.8 million gallons of biofuels per year once in operation. The aim is to increase production to over 165 million gallons per year of renewable diesel and SAF over 10 to 12 years.

The LGF plant currently aims to be operational by early 2027 and is expected to produce about 87% renewable diesel and 13% bionaphtha. Strategic Biofuels is planning to utilize carbon capture and sequestration technology at its LGF plant to further drive down carbon emissions.

U.S. operable biofuels production capacity was up in November, with gains for both ethanol and renewable diesel, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Jan. 31. Total feedstock consumption was up slightly from October.

Total operable biofuels capacity reached 21.941 billion gallons in November, up 540 million gallons when compared to the 21.401 billion gallons of capacity in place in October. When compared to November 2021, capacity was up 979 million gallons. Ethanol capacity reached 17.179 billion gallons in November, up 4 million gallons when compared to the 17.175 billion gallons of capacity in place the previous month, but down 292 million gallons when compared to the 17.467 billion gallons of capacity in place as of November 2021.

Biodiesel capacity was at 2.092 billion gallons in November, flat with the previous month, but down 297 million gallons when compared to the 2.389 billion gallons of capacity reported for the same month of the previous year. Capacity for renewable diesel and associated fuels, including renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha, renewable gasoline, and other biofuels and biointermediates, expanded to 2.67 billion gallons in November, up 536 million gallons when compared to October. Capacity was up 1.564 billion gallons when compared to the 1.106 billion gallons of capacity in place as of November 2021.

The consortium of Masdar, TotalEnergies, Siemens Energy and Marubeni announced that the Masdar-led initiative focused on green hydrogen to produce SAF is actively working with licensors to certify a new production pathway for SAF from methanol. The consortium has been collaborating with the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, and Khalifa University of Science and Technology, on a demonstration initiative for eSAF. Since January 2021, the partners in the initiative have completed a range of evaluations on technology suppliers, feasibility studies and conceptual designs, while working closely with regulators on compliance issues. The consortium has now zoned in on the methanolto-jet pathway as its chosen technology route.

The Washington State Senate on March 1 voted 46 to 2 in favor of a bill that aims to encourage the manufacture and purchase of SAF though tax incentives. The bill also directs Washington State University to convene a working group to further development of alternative jet fuels. The bill, SB 5447, was introduced Jan. 18. Following its March 1 passage by the Washington Senate, the bill was transferred to the Washington House of Representatives.

Regarding tax incentives, the bill aims to create a preferential business and operations (B&O) tax rate of 0.275 percent for the manufacturing and wholesaling of alternative jet fuels. The bill would also establish a B&O and public utilities tax credit for certain sales and purchases of alternative jet fuel. The amount of the credit would be $1 per gallon of alternative jet fuel that has at least 50% less carbon dioxide equivalent emissions than conventional jet fuel. The credit would increase by 2 cents for each additional 1 percent reduction beyond 50% with a cap of $2 per gallon.

With support from Safran Helicopter Engines, TotalEnergies, Airbus Helicopters and France’s defense procurement agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement-DGA) have carried out the first test flight of an NH90, during which one of its two RTM322 engines ran on SAF. The fuel was produced by TotalEnergies from used cooking oil using hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids technology and has a carbon footprint four times less than that of a fossil fuel. As such, it meets the European Union's 65% abatement requirement for sustainable fuels. The test flight took place on Feb. 3 and marks a first for a military helicopter with such a high content of SAF, and without any engine modification.

IMAGE: SAFRAN HELICOPTER ENGINES

SAF IN THE BIG SKY STATE

BY SUSANNE RETKA SCHILL

As of late February, Montana Renewables LLC claims the distinction of being the largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer on the continent, and expects to maintain that status when a planned expansion is completed next year. “We’re a couple weeks away from being North America’s largest SAF producer, and nobody knows it,” Bruce Fleming, executive vice president, tells SAF Magazine in late January. “We’re an operating company of engineers. We

have our heads down, thinking about equipment all the time. And we didn’t tell our story.”

The story, he says, is that Montana Renewables is ahead of the curve. “Everybody’s talking about SAF. We’re doing it. Everybody wants to build a project. We’ve built it. And everybody talks about scaling up and supplying volumes. We’re supplying them.

“We’re going to get better at telling our story,” he continues. “Maybe someday, I’ll walk down a jetway and see our poster on the wall.”

The story is one of fortunate timing, the ability to pivot from an initial focus on re-

newable diesel to a greater focus on SAF, on top of a favorable location. Montana Renewables’ facility in Great Falls, Montana, is on the site of a 100-year-old refinery acquired in 2012 by parent company Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP. In early 2021, Calumet announced plans to reconfigure the oversized hydro cracker built in 2016 to process 10,000 to 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) of renewable feedstock into renewable diesel.Things moved quickly, and by fall, financing closed, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held and an air permit approved. In November, Calumet announced the creation of Montana Renewables as a wholly owned, “unrestricted pure-play re-

Calumet’s Montana Renewables has set sights on optimizing renewable jet output to be North America’s largest producer.

newables subsidiary.” A few months later, in next quarter’s earnings call, Calumet announced off-take contracts had been executed with three primary customers, including Phillips 66 and Chevron Renewable Energy Group, plus feedstock purchasing was progressing better than expected.

Montana Renewables’ retrofitted process came online at half capacity in December, starting up on tallow to produce renewable diesel. Full capacity was reached by the end of Q1 after the sequential commissioning of renewable hydrogen, SAF and feedstock pretreatment systems. “We’re advertising 12,000 bpd of renewable

feedstock,” Fleming says. “That’s about 180 million gallons per year. Of that total, most is renewable diesel. The SAF portion that we sold is 30 million gallons per year.”

Engineering and procurement is underway for a 2024 expansion to process 20,000 bpd, with the ability to flex between all renewable diesel or all SAF, he continues. “There’s a huge, backed-up demand for SAF. We have the capability to offer SAF at a price parity with renewable diesel, which those with older generation technology can’t. They need a premium for SAF or they are not going to make any.”

Montana Renewable’s cost advantage is partly due to its decision to deploy the

latest technology from Haldor Topsoe in its renewable diesel retrofit. “The new catalyst system has better yield performance, and it’s now economic to make SAF when it didn’t used to be,” Fleming says.

Topsoe Managing Director for the Americas, Henrik Rasmussen, attributes much of the improved SAF economics to the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act that is leveling the competitiveness of SAF compared to renewable diesel. That said, Topsoe’s Hydroflex processes offer some advantages. The company has developed a new suite of proprietary catalysts for fats, oil and greases that includes optimizing the jet fraction, if desired. The

The Montana Renewables facility in Great Falls, Montana, is on the site of a century-old refinery acquired in 2012 by parent company, Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP.

IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

Topsoe process also utilizes catalysts for the hydrogenation process to remove oxygen from the triglycerides as water, unlike the more common decarboxylation process that removes oxygen as CO2. Not only does that keep the carbon in the fuel fraction, thus increasing yields, but it eliminates the need for an amine tower to scrub the CO2 , thus lowering energy consumption.

An added advantage for those retrofitting oil refineries is that much of the equipment is there, Rasmussen says. “We reconfigure them a little differently, but we use practically everything that’s there. And they have a lot of infrastructure: tankage, loading docs, control room, wastewater system—so there’s a lot of savings.” A revamp also saves time, taking less than half the time of a greenfield build.

“Calumet’s revamp is a great success,” Rasmussen says. “It’s a great revamp. We got it up and running very quickly with Bruce and his team. They’re running and making on-spec product. And now they’re ready for the next phase. I’m sure it will be just as successful, because it’s a great team. They understand how to run the units. It will be up and running in no time.” Adding the systems to enable jet optimization is done while the plant is running, he explains, with new equipment installed in parallel. Tie-ins are completed during a scheduled turnaround time. “It does require a little more equipment, more piping, extra catalyst and takes time,” he adds. “Is it difficult? No. Does it cost money? Yes.”

Fleming says the last piece of the needed financial package for the expansion is nearly complete. “We’re being thoughtful, but we think the Inflation Reduction Act has cleared the way for expansion to be economic.” SAF incentives in the IRA help the jet fuel economics compete with renewable diesel, starting with both fuels now eligible for the blenders credit for advanced biofuel. When the Clean Fuel Production Credit begins in 2025, SAF will be eligible for a tax incentive

starting at $1.25 per gallon, increasing with each point of improved carbon reductions better than the 50% reduction threshold, to a maximum of $1.75 per gallon.

“The doors have opened for more people to get in,” Fleming continues. “But most have to make an investment, because the [renewable diesel] plants that are in existence don’t have the capability to recover the renewable jet, because it wasn’t economic. They’ll have to retrofit. Luckily for us, we had that capability in place when we did the conversion.” The retrofit is relatively simple, he explains, but takes time for engineering, ordering long-lead equipment, applying for permits as needed, plus the actual construction work. “That whole

‘Everybody’s talking about SAF. We’re doing it. Everybody wants to build a project. We’ve built it. And everybody talks about scaling up and supplying volumes. We’re supplying them.’

- Bruce Fleming Montana Renewables

Bruce Fleming, executive vice president, Montana Renewables

Montana Renewables workers offload one of the first tallow railcar receipts. IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

cycle, especially at a larger scale, takes 18 to 24 months,” Fleming says.

Logistics Advantages

Based in Great Falls (population 60,000) in central Montana, just 100 miles south of the Canadian border, Montana Renewable’s location is a strategic advantage for two reasons. One, being located on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe main line gives access to cities with major airports, including several in West

Coast low-carbon fuel markets. Reason two is that roughly 2 million acres of canola are grown in the northern tier counties of Washington, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, with 10 times that grown in Canada’s prairie provinces. Long approved as a biodiesel feedstock, the canola pathway for renewable diesel and SAF received EPA approval in December. In the U.S., canola’s carbon intensity (CI) score comes in at about 49 grams, compared to soybean’s at 53. In Canada,

however, Fleming points out that canola scores a CI in the low 20s, which he understands is because of a different assessment of land use change in the Canadian models. One buyer, he adds, has specified Canadian canola oil be used in their fuels. “We’re in the right part of the world to run canola, while the guys on the Gulf Coast are going to run soybean oil. But those are food crops, so you’re headed for food versus fuel.” The airlines don’t want to get near that potential controversy, he points out. Their goal is to

The retrofit of Calumet's then-oil refinery to Montana Renewables began in 2021.

IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

Employees pose for a photo in front of the Montana Renewables renewable diesel unit.

IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

Great Falls is the third most populated city in Montana, at roughly 60,000 people. The town is named for a series of waterfalls located on the nearby Missouri River.

IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

become carbon neutral. Thus, the company’s proximity to an emerging nonfood oilseed crop in the northern plains—camelina—is another strategic plus.

Camelina’s CI score of approximately 20 puts it on par with tallow and distillers corn oil, Fleming says, and it could score even better. “There’s a company in California, Global Clean Energy Holdings, that says it’s an 8 CI for them because they are going to integrate the camelina crushing with their renewable plant. They go further and say it could be negative. They’re burning natural gas to get the energy for the process, and if they tie in renewable natural gas, they could get a negative CI score.”

“There’s definitely a line of sight for carbon neutral,” Fleming says. For Montana Renewables, that will include camelina as crop production expands in the region. “The second you start paying farmers for something they were going to plow under in the spring, it’ll come into

commerce,” he says, adding that one of the camelina developers is headquartered in Great Falls. Montana Renewables also has set aside land, working to attract an oilseed crusher to the site.

Another carbon reduction strategy deployed by Montana Renewables is eliminating natural gas in its process, Fleming adds. Catalysts aren’t perfect, he explains, converting roughly 95% of the feedstock into SAF, renewable diesel and renewable naphtha with the remaining byproducts consisting of renewable natural gas, propane and offgases. “We’re using the byproducts in a closed loop in our process, coming back to hydrogen production,” he explains. Next up is to figure out how to get credit for the plant’s electrical feed coming from hydroelectric dams, rather than using the average fuel mix.

The final value of carbon reduction remains to be seen, as the carbon market matures and the specifications around

carbon accounting evolve. “Right now, it’s not level,” Fleming says. “Every LCFS geography wrote its own rule. California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia rules are all incrementally different. The Canadian federal rule will be different yet.”

All of this is rapidly unfolding, according to Fleming. “We’re in on the ground floor. We’re producing it the way the industry wants it produced, so we can comply with this nest of specifications,” he says, listing the blenders tax credit, the LCFS credit, and RINs—all of which add value to the fuel. “The customer takes the environmental attributes,” he adds. “What they do with that is their business. They’re going to claim they reduced X amount of tons of CO2 , but X depends on which rule.”

Author: Susanne Retka Schill Freelance writer, SAF Magazine

Utilities and infrastructure already in place prior to Montana Renewables conversion included three hydrogen plants, rail racks, truck racks, multiple steam boilers, redundant electrical feeds, a high-pressure natural gas connection, water treating, flares, DCS control systems, light ends recovery, sulfur and nitrogen recovery, leased rail fleet, and a highly trained and tenured workforce.

IMAGE: MONTANA RENEWABLES

THE INDUSTRY IS CHANGING

AGAINST THE ODDS

Continuing down the path where many have floundered, LanzaTech’s momentum is undeniable.

BY KATIE SCHROEDER

When LanzaTech was founded in New Zealand in 2005, the company was born out of a desire to find solutions. At its inception, the founders were looking for a waste feedstock that was abundant and inexpensive. They found their solution in a bacteria that could consume carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and turn it into fuel, explains Freya Burton, chief sustainability officer at LanzaTech.

Burton discussed the company’s projects, purpose and goals with SAF Magazine, beginning by pointing out that the landscape around utilization of CO2 , carbon recycling and decarbonization has changed for the better in recent years. She and her team have witnessed accelerated progress as more people have become familiar with what those things mean, and how they work. There was a time when people viewed LanzaTech's vision as impossible—but that is no longer the case, according to Burton. “When LanzaTech started, it was based on the idea of using biology as a solution for this very modern problem of too much carbon in our atmosphere,” she says. “We identified a living organism that can essentially eat carbon in gases and use that as food, and as it grows, it makes things like ethanol and other chemicals. So, it’s very similar to traditional

fermentation, where sugar and yeast are needed to make alcohol, but instead of sugars, it’s carbon in gas form. Or, you can take solid waste and superheat it to make a gas stream, and instead of a yeast, we use a living bacteria.”

Burton explains that simply put, the LanzaJet alcohol-to-jet process developed over many years by LanzaTech and Pacific Northwest National Lab works by connecting long chains of carbons to make SAF. Beyond SAF, the ethanol can be transformed into ethylene and other building blocks used in a wide variety of products, anything from fabric to packaging to cleaning fluid. These uses have been tested through partnerships with clothing brands Zara and Lululemon, and flights with Virgin Atlantic and All Nippon Airways using SAF made from carbon emissions, as well as other partnerships. “That’s the beauty of biology; it can make lots of different things—it’s not a one-trick pony, taking one type of input and getting one type of output,” Burton says.

Launching SAF

In order to further pursue its alcoholto-jet fuel efforts, LanzaTech launched another company in 2020—LanzaJet— to commercialize the process. Since its launch, the company has been making headlines for its Freedom Pines plant in

Soperton, Georgia. The plant will produce 10 MMgy of SAF and renewable diesel using its alcohol-to-jet process. Feedstock will be undenatured ethanol from woody biomass. The pilot plant at the location was successful, so now, the company’s focus is on scaling up the technology to commercial volumes.

The volume demand for SAF is huge, Burton explains. Currently, there are nearly 100 billion gallons of jet fuel used each year, according to pre-COVID statistics. She says that by a conservative estimate, 10 billion gallons of SAF will be needed over the next 10 to 15 years. “Today, we only make a tiny percentage [of that volume],” she says. “So, we really need feedstocks that

are abundant and available. We don’t want to have only jet fuel made from fats and oils. We don’t want it to come from sugars or things that we need to grow and can be [food]. We want to use a feedstock that is available and essentially a problem, so that’s why using waste as a feedstock for jet fuel is really interesting.”

Tests run on LanzaJet’s aviation fuel have shown up to a 90% reduction in particulates within jet contrails, Burton explains. It is important that both carbon removal and carbon recycling are used as tools to help reduce emissions overall, she says.

The company’s SAF projects are by no means limited to the U.S. LanzaTech

has also announced a partnership with Vattenfall, a Swedish power company, to use CO2 from its heating plant as a feedstock for SAF, as well as with SkyNRG to develop a project called FLITE (Fuel via Low Carbon Integrated Technology), which is planned to produce 30,000 tons per year of SAF from waste-based ethanol. And, LanzaJet’s Project DRAGON (Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal of Netzero) is expected to be collocated with a steel mill in Wales, using steel mill emissions to produce jet fuel.

As well as its SAF efforts, LanzaTech is developing its technology for creating carbon-negative chemicals. The goal is to be able to convert CO2 or carbon

monoxide directly into chemicals like acetone and ethylene, which are important commodity chemicals around the world. “We’re spending a lot of time focused on these areas, which highlight our synthetic biology capability. In a sense, we can turn off the ethanol gene. Once that’s off, it actually diverts all its power to making other things,” Burton says. “We can also tailor our microbe specifically to make targeted chemicals using synthetic biology. We're finding that we can make these chemicals, and that’s pretty exciting.”

Company Challenges

Throughout the 18 years of LanzaTech’s existence, the company has faced

In mid-December, LanzaTech celebrated a major construction milestone at the LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Soperton, Georgia.

IMAGE: LANZATECH

and overcome many different challenges. The biggest has been money and funding, especially in a post-COVID-19 world. Lanzatech’s investors and funders include All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Mitsui & Co., Suncor Energy, Shell, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The company went public earlier this year, beginning stock trading on Feb. 10.

Since 2020, Burton notes, there has been an increased awareness of health and wellbeing, and environmental concerns along with that. She says more companies are looking for ways to “do better” because consumers are interested in spending their money on sustainable products, and the interest in LanzaTech's technology has increased as airlines, clothing providers and more are looking to bring such products to market. “As an example, Unilever has a really strong commitment to delivering sustainable products to their customers, because they want them,” she says.

The other obstacle LanzaTech has faced is the awareness of the industry. “I’ve been with the company since it started, and back then we were laughed out of the room. People thought we were the crazy ones. Even five years ago, you would not have seen the language around carbon

use, carbon recycling, carbon tech—all of these things didn’t really exist in the public eye,” Burton says. She and her team have witnessed this change in the past few years as the terminology and concepts of carbon recycling and reduction have become more widespread, and people have begun to understand that it’s possible.

In the midst of all these challenges, LanzaTech has persevered under the leadership of their CEO, Jennifer Holmgren, whose energy and passion have propelled the company forward. “She’s relentless,” Burton says. “She has always been told, ‘You can’t do this, that’s impossible.’ She’s been trying to scale a technology people just thought it was impossible. Even when we launched LanzaJet, they were like, ‘That’s not going to work.’ It may be people continuing to say that which is what further motivates us to say, ‘Watch us, we’re going to do this.’ Jennifer inspires this kind of optimism and hope.”

Burton adds that Holmgren does a great job reminding the company of the successes they have experienced in the energy space—for example, seeing clothing made of steel mill emissions, and the plants they have operating today.

When reflecting on her career, Burton says that when she started, she thought that creating and scaling the technology would be the most challenging component of the concept. Now, she instead believes that it is actually the work involved to get people to rethink carbon, and challenging the fossil fuels, chemical and energy industries. Encouraging people to rethink carbon is very difficult, Burton admits. “That’s hard, and it’s only through this dogged determination that we’ve managed to get here,” she says. “I wish it was a prettier an-

Freedom Pines Fuels is expected to be the world's first ethanol-based alcohol-to-jet SAF plant, with construction on track for completion later this year, and commissioning and startup slated for 2024.

IMAGE: LANZATECH

LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren (second from left), and LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis (far right), welcomed former U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Sen. Jon Ossoff to the Freedom Pines site in October 2021.

IMAGE: LANZATECH

Freya Burton, LanzaTech Chief Sustainability Officer

swer, but I think you have to be like that to make these things happen.”

Past Landmarks, Future Goals

LanzaTech’s tireless, determined work has led to some exciting developments, and Burton has a few highlights that have stuck with her. The first flight with Virgin Atlantic in 2018 was an exciting experience, she says. Being able to order clothes from Zara that are made out of carbon emissions was also an important milestone. But for Burton, the most meaningful accomplishment has been witnessing the conversation around sustainability efforts begin to include carbon recycling. “I’m not saying it was LanzaTech singlehandedly, but it is rewarding to see the dialogue change. I have said it a few times, but when people say

you’re crazy for so many years, it’s nice to finally prove that maybe we aren’t.”

Solutions that will reuse or reduce carbon emissions are crucial, whether they involve stopping emissions at the source by developing low- to negative-carbon fuels, or recycling carbon. “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Burton adds. “There's a gap between how much SAF is made today [and] that conservative volume that we need, and we need [to fill] that. We need all solutions. That would be my main message—we’re running out of time, and we need everybody to create volume.”

Author: Katie Schroeder Staff Writer, SAF Magazine katie.schroeder@bbiinternational.com

Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech CEO

An earlier phase of Freedom Pines Fuels, which continued as planned despite COVID-19-related supply chain, manufacturing and labor shortages that impacted the global economy.

IMAGE: LANZATECH

In September 2021, the SAF Grand Challenge was signed, and the governmentwide effort was announced. A collaboration among the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Aviation Administration, the ultimate goal of the challenge is to enable U.S. SAF production to dramatically expand to three billion gallons per year (BGY) by 2030, and to 100% of aviation fuel demand by 2050—a projected demand of 35 billion BGY. During a February webinar, the agencies provided an overview of the challenge, as well as an update on developments and progress.

Rising to the Challenge

The SAF Grand Challenge targets drop-in fuel from waste, renewable materials and gaseous sources of carbon—a whole range of potential feedstocks, says Nate Brown, alternative jet fuels project manager at the FAA. All fuels considered must achieve at least a 50% greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.

Following the release of the challenge was the Aviation Climate Action Plan,

which details the overall strategy for decarbonizing aviation and meeting the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. “A huge piece of that approach is to focus on SAF,” Brown says. “In September 2022, we developed and released the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap, and just this past month, the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization was released.”

To help achieve goals, each agency has a different role. As for what’s needed to be successful, there are many different moving parts, according to Brown. “When we think about dramatically expanding SAF production, we recognize there are different parties that are going to be playing critical roles, and the government is just one piece,” he says. “The private sector, and also the legislators, need to play a role."

In order to reach goals, Brown says, some critical activities need to take place. “We need to create an environment where producers choose to produce SAF, and that it’s profitable to do so,” he says. "When writing the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap, we recognized that legislative action to reduce cost and address risk of technologies would be necessary. And we’ve had, with recent legislation like IRA [Inflation Reduction Act], some provisions that are going to

be helpful to that effect. We also recognize that the agencies can take a coordinated approach to federal actions that help derisk technologies, de-risk supply chains, to enable markets and reduce barriers. “

Another piece of the puzzle is helping the industry get into a position where it is supported to build the SAF supply and to purchase it, Brown says. The IRA, which was signed into law on Aug. 16, is designed to do just that.

IRA Provisions in a Nutshell

The SAF provisions of the IRA are made up of two sections, the first of which is focused on SAF tax credits to address the cost differential between SAF and petroleum fuel, as well as the cost differential between SAF and renewable diesel, according to Brown. “Section 13203 creates a two-year incentive for blending of SAF that is sold or used, starting [on Jan. 1], and it must achieve a 50% GHG emissions reduction in order to be eligible,” he says. “The tax credit starts at $1.25 per gallon, but scales up by one cent per gallon for each percentage point improvement in GHG performance, up to $1.75 per gallon. These credits can be stacked with both Renewable Fuel Standard RINs [renewable

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Signed just over a year ago, the U.S. SAF Grand Challenge will require an all-hands-on-deck effort to reach goals.

BY ANNA SIMET

identification numbers], as well as state low carbon fuel standard credits.”

After the two-year period, the Section 13704 Clean Fuel Production Credit (45Z Tax Credit) comes into effect—a threeyear incentive that begins on Jan. 1, 2025, for fuel sold or used starting on that date. “It provides an additional incentive for SAF production over other fuels, but it is a broader fuel tax credit,” Brown says.

The other provision of note is the establishment of a grant program through Section 4007, which is focused on new SAF projects and technology grants. “It has provided almost $300 million to the DOT competitive grant program to fund eligible entities to carry out projects in the U.S. that produce, transport blend and store SAF, as well as develop and demonstrate low-emissions aviation technologies,” Brown says, adding that the FAA is developing two programs, titled FAST-SAF and FAST-Tech.

Following the Roadmap

Zia Haq, senior analyst at the U.S. DOE, discusses the structure and layout of the roadmap, which is a multiagency plan of federal agency actions that will support stakeholders in building the SAF

supply. There are six overarching action areas, which include feedstock innovation, conversion technology innovation, building regional SAF supply chains, policy and valuation analysis, enabling end use, and communicating progress and building support. “Each has a number of work streams with deliverables and key themes,” Haq says. Describing the detailed nature of the roadmap, Haq says stemming from the six action areas are 26 work streams and 139 activities. “We consider two different timeframes—2030 and 2050, with 2030 being a near-term objective of 3 billion gallons. There will be a set of technologies required to meet that, and then we feel a different set of technologies will build onto those to meet the 2050 timeframe, which is a lot more ambitious.”

Bill Goldner, USDA national program leader for biomass development and production systems, briefly discussed each one of the roadmap action areas and its workstreams, emphasizing that the conversion technologies and processes action area “is really key. Because this is where the fuel gets made, and the research and development that goes into setting up the industry to move forward,” he says.

Goldner says that building regional fuel supply chains “is really where the rubber meets the road. As much as we’d like to think we’ll be producing jet fuel in the federal government, that’s not going to happen—a lot of this is going to happen in industry, and there are some key things we hope we can do to enable that production. That includes the building and support of regional stakeholder coalitions, largely through outreach, extension and public and individual education. We’re also working to model different SAF supply chains, support their demonstration—which is really critical—and invest in SAF production infrastructure to support industry deployment.”

Goldner says that currently, there are “quite a few” new fuel production pathways in the pipeline, other than the ones that have already been approved. “We’re also looking at enabling the use of drop-in, unblended SAF, and blends of up to 100%, which will be really critical in terms of reducing GHG footprints for the industry.”

As for as examples of implementation among the different agencies and action areas, Goldner provided two related to feedstock innovation.

Action Areas: Examples Underway

The USDA has been supporting feedstock development through public private partnerships focused on joining emerging supply chains with existing supply chains. Goldner highlights two that he describes as “really important,” one being an oilseed cover crop in upper Midwest corn and soybean rotations. “It’s called pennycress, and there has been a dramatic amount of progress being made,” he says. A company called CoverCress has been working with Illinois universities and others to develop pennycress into an oilseed grain crop, according to Goldner. “There is quite a bit of movement toward commercialization,” he says. "In fact, CoverCress was recently purchased by Bayer and is now a

self-standing subsidiary, with a very strong commercial relationship with Bunge, one of the biggest crushers in the U.S." CoverCress also has a commercial relationship with renewable diesel producer Renewable Energy Group, which is now owned by Chevron, he adds.

Similarly, there is development of Brassica carinata for Southeast crop rotations, another oilseed crop that has strong potential for high acreage. It is the first crop in longer than a decade to be approved for RINs by the EPA. Goldner points to the potential for a lucrative coproduct, as the market for non-GMO meal as livestock feed is already very strong. There is solid investment backing for this initiative, he adds, as company Nuseed has signed a commercial development agreement with BP. “This is really moving forward quickly,” he says.

For the action area of conversion technologies and processes, Haq highlights BETO’s work on CO2 utilization research and development, which he says has been ongoing for several years. “We have been doing some analysis and studies, and this is the first real advancement that we see on the horizon,” he says, referring to the conversion of CO2 into affordable biofuels and bioproducts. Research at Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been seeking to develop these technologies. “This is still a very challenging pathway, but I think the breakthrough is using electrolysis to convert CO2 into methanol; it is very interesting and looks promising. What we’re hoping to do at Argonne and NREL is to design catalysts with electrodes that exhibit a high selectivity from methanol, which can be used in a variety of ways, including SAF. We hope that eventually, we’ll be able to use CO2 directly, either from the air or waste industrial flue gasses, and use that as a feedstock to make fuels or products that can essentially sequester carbon.

On the supply chains action area, Goldner points to some significant awards

the USDA has announced since the release of the roadmap. For instance, Gevo Inc.—lead partner of a project that involves many other major partners—was awarded $30 million. “Gevo is looking at how to enable sustainable [low-carbonintensity] corn to produce ethanol, and ultimately jet fuel, through their particular pathway,” he says. “This $30 million goes a long way to enable work with a wide range of stakeholders to get them to adopt these important climate-smart technologies.”

Another example is a $95 million award that was given to a Midwest consortium, the lead partner of which is the Iowa Soybean Association, to provide farmers with funding via outcome-based contracts for reduction and removal of CO2 through adoption of new climatesmart practices. “This will be critical if we’re ever going to have the volume of oilbased feedstocks that we need for SAF and renewable diesel,” Goldner says. “We really need to improve the sustainability of a number of these oil-seed crops, so

Through its Fischer Trope process, Fulcrum BioEnergy's Sierra BioFuels is producing fuel at its landfill waste-based plant in Reno, Nevada. The company received DOE and DOD funding several years ago. IMAGE: FULCRUM BIOENERGY

here’s a really big investment toward that end.”

Finally, in the same program, a $30 million investment has been made for the oilseed cover crop camelina. This project, the lead partner of which is Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc., is aimed at accelerating farmer adoption of camelina as a nonfood crop grown on idle acres, to produce plant-based feedstock for biofuels and chemicals. “This is one of the things we’re most excited about—cover crops that are feedstock eligible and can be used to produce SAF, but do not require additional acreage to be cultivated and have very low CI scores,” Goldner says.

Haq highlights some support toward SAF producers such as LanzaTech, which he says has been extensive and over multiple years. “It does take time—we have to be patient, and not expect results over night,” he says. “If you’re persistent and can work through the problems and difficulties, then you can get to a commercial scale, as LanzaTech has demonstrated.”

LanzaTech’s process converts ethanol into jet fuel, he explains. The company’s 10 MMgy commercial production facility is under construction in Soperton, Georgia, and is expected to come online this year. “The interest is to try to replicate that, and scale it up in the U.S. and world,” he says. This is another example of success we’ve had with DOE funding.”

Haq also highlights Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd., which, through its Fischer Trope process, has begun producing fuel at its plant in Reno, Nevada. “Post-consumer sorted MSW with very minimal content of recycled materials is taken to a gasifier and then converted into an intermediate,” Haq says. “Further plants are being planned in various parts of the country and globally. They also received DOE funding and DOD funding several years ago, and this is one of the success stories we’re able to realize now ... these early investments are paying off, and we hope we’ll continue to have more successes in the future.”

Fulcrum is now developing two additional waste-to-fuel plants in Indiana as

well as the United Kingdom in conjunction with Essar Oil.

Emissions Calculations

One critical activity underway is the convening of an SAF lifecycle analysis working group, according to Brown. “This will be focused on improving environmental models and data for SAF, and enabling some of the new policy that has come into effect,” he says. “For this working group, the seeds were really laid in the MOU ... it spelled out very specifically that in order to certify and verify the greenhouse gas benefits that we’re requiring in the Grand Challenge, that the USDA, DOT and DOE will work with EPA and other relevant agencies to define and agree upon appropriate, science-based methodologies for establishing life cycle emissions reduction.”

Brown acknowledges that a great deal of work has been done on lifecycle emissions, as well as a lot of implementation through various policies and regulations, and there are many different ways to do lifecycle analyses. “So, this working group will support the needs of the SAF Grand Challenge. It was established this summer ... one of the critical activities first identified is to understand why different methods give different estimates of emissions, as well as to examine the different approaches being used in LCA models both domestically and internationally. And then, to identify commonalities and areas of difference in the models being used ... ”

There are many initiatives and programs supporting the end use action area, such as the FAST-SAF Grant Program, which was established by the IRA. “This program we’re currently developing will play a significant role in supporting industries and government to integrate SAF into fuel distribution infrastructure,” Brown says. “Section 4007 of IRA spells out nearly $300 million that can be used for projects that produce, transport, blend or store SAF; $244 million for projects related to SAF production, transportation, blending and storage; $46 million for projects

related to low-emission aviation technologies; and then almost $6 million to fund administration of the grant program."

Brown says a public meeting was held in December to gather input about the program and its focuses. “We’re in the process of developing the organization to manage the grant program, as well as the notice of funding opportunity that will be coming out, and we’re current receiving comments at fast-saftech@faa.com.”

Moving Ahead

An SAF Grand Challenge website is in the works, which will be hosted at biomassboard.org. It will serve as home of the biomass R&D development board and provide support for the work area of communicating the public benefits of the SAF Grand Challenge, have an overview of the roadmap, links to programs supporting SAF, announcements of events and upcoming funding opportunities, and progress reports as efforts move forward.

Goldner says the federal partners involved are looking forward to moving ahead, and that they have put together implementation teams that are currently working on inventorying and mapping existing and planned activities along with the roadmap. “The key to this is that by early this year, we’ll have identified research, design, development and demonstration gaps and funding needs to enable industry movement on SAF production,” he says.

A key aspect is working with external stakeholders to gain input in federal activity plans, Goldner adds. “There are a number of mechanisms we’re exploring in order to do this we’re also looking for recommendations on research focus areas. We want to know what everyone is doing out there toward producing SAF systems, and we’d like to hear more about what the gaps are, to perhaps put some federal resources in line with [them].”

Author: Anna Simet Editor, SAF Magazine

Modeled biofuel prodiction costs below $3/GGE

From Concept to Commercialization: NREL’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels Program

- By Zia Abdullah

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory supports the U.S. DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office with fundamental and applied research, development, and deployment (RD&D) designed to advance technologies to produce biobased energy, fuels, chemicals and products from initial conception to demonstration stages.

NREL’s program is organized along six science and technology (S&T) research platforms, focused on pretreatment and biological conversion of biomass feed; catalytic conversion of biomass feed or intermediate streams; coproduct poly-

mers and bioproducts production; lignin valorization; waste gas valorization; and algae biofuels and bioproducts. Supporting these S&T platforms is a crosscutting strategic and sustainability analysis platform, which provides process economics and sustainability metrics to help inform S&T research priorities. Projects in each S&T platform are integrated into feedstock–toproduct “pathways” that support the DOE sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and materials and chemicals CO2 reduction goals. The technology pathways are deployed through the market impact platform in col-

laboration with industry partners and other stakeholders.

Commercial aircraft being sold today will likely still be in operation for the next 30 years. Our program, therefore, targets development of SAF, which is completely fungible and drop-in to the existing commercial aviation fueling systems, as per ASTM 7566. Our approach is to make SAF blendstocks that comprise only those molecule classes, (cyclo-alkanes, n-alkanes, iso-alkanes, and aromatics) and that already exist in Jet-A, therefore resulting in a fully fungible fuel that meets the safety,

CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of SAF Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).

Figure 1: NREL’s catalytic fast pyrolysis technology converts nonfood biomass and waste solid feedstocks into renewable chemicals and SAF blendstocks through hydrotreatment of stabilized bio-oil.

performance, and operability requirements as per ASTM D4054 and ASTM D1655, and can be seamlessly used with existing infrastructure and airplanes.

Refinery Integration

Targeted feedstocks for our SAF pathways range from CO2, wet waste and aquatic species, to municipal solid waste, to herbaceous and woody terrestrial biomass. With some preprocessing, which we collaborate on with our partner, the U.S. DOE Idaho National Laboratory, this very broad range of feedstocks can be converted to a form suitable for feeding into reactors for chemical or biological conversion to intermediates, and then further upgraded. Example intermediate streams include Fischer Tropsch (FT) waxes, alcohols, bio-oils & biocrudes, acids, sugars, ketones, oils and lignin streams.

Our approach is to develop biological and chemical conversion technologies that can produce these intermediates from renewable feedstocks, and further upgrade these intermediates into streams that can be processed to make SAF blendstocks through existing petroleum refineries.

The U.S. has approximately 100 billion gallons per year of petroleum hydrotreater and 85 billion gallons of fluid catalytic cracking capacity. A significant portion of these refinery assets may be underutilized if light-duty transportation undergoes significant electrification, and gasoline demand eventually starts reducing. Leveraging these petroleum refinery assets may significantly reduce capital costs for SAF production. Partnering with the petroleum industry may also allow an incremental transition to renewables by blending fossil and renewable streams. Refinery integration will also allow utilization of existing personnel skills in safety, equipment operation, fuel finishing, quality assurance and quality control, fuel blending, fuel branding and industry knowhow. There are some challenges associated with refinery

integration, however. Petroleum refineries operate at very large scales (a typical refinery in the U.S. may produce 500,000 barrels per day (b/d) of fuels), whereas biorefinery streams are much smaller (around 1,500 to 3,000 b/d of product). Therefore, it would be difficult to match smaller renewable streams to equipment designed to process at much larger scale. This is where concepts such as blending of renewable and fossil streams may help, until production of renewable feeds can be scaled up. Renewable streams are also generally very chemically different from petroleum streams. For example, most renewable streams listed above contain oxygen, which may make them incompatible with materials of construction used in petroleum refineries. Oxygen from renewable streams must be removed completely, and processes to achieve this are often highly exothermic and produce excessive water, both issues that refinery operations may not be designed for and are topics of our research program.

Technology Development

NREL has a pipeline of SAF technologies at different stages of development and timelines to market. Some examples are as follows.

Waste biomass pyrolysis to SAF using catalytic pyrolysis. In this process, nonfood biomass is pyrolyzed and then the pyrolysis gas is upgraded in a fixed bed catalytic reactor (Figure 1). Condensation of the pyrolysis gas and separation of streams produces a stabilized bio-oil that can be upgraded in conventional refinery hydrotreaters to SAF blend stock, and a renewable chemical coproducts stream (acetone and 2-butanone). The fossilbased petrochemical industry maximizes profit by coproducing fuels and chemicals, and this process will offer similar coproduction opportunities for biorefineries. If regenerative agriculture is used to produce biomass for this process, carbon can

be stored in the soil, potentially producing carbon-negative fuels.

Wet waste to SAF using arrested anerobic digestion. In this project, arrested anerobic digestion is used to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA) from food industry waste. These VFAs are then catalytically upgraded to ketones, when can be upgraded to SAF blendstocks. Testing has shown that these blendstocks can potentially be blended at very high ratios (potentially up to 70%) and still meet all the required properties for jet fuel. This technology has the ability not only to use wet waste from the food industry, but also eventually wet waste from farms and agriculture.

Corn stover to SAF. The current DOEFOA project with SAFFiRE Renewables is. This is an example of market deployment in partnership with industry. In this project, NREL’s Deacytelation Mechanical Refining technology is used to along with enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation to produce ethanol, which is upgraded to SAF blendstocks.

In addition to the nearer-term DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement projects with industry partners, NREL has very promising earlier-stage technologies in the pipeline, including algae to SAF and coproducts, lignin deconstruction and upgrading to SAF, syngas upgrading to SAF or high-octane blendstocks, carboxylic acids to SAF, and also multiple routes that can use renewable electricity and CO2 to produce intermediates for upgrading to SAF. Each of these technologies will eventually be licensed to industry partners for deployment to meet the administration’s goals to produce at least 3 billion gallons of SAF by 2030, and to completely decarbonize U.S. commercial aviation by producing 35 billion gallons of SAF by 2050.

Author: Zia Abdullah Bioenergy Laboratory Program Manager National Renewable energy Laboratory

Maximizing the Value in SAF

Through optimal business strategy, innovative technology and a firm grasp on the market, Green Plains is leading the charge into alcohol-to-jet.

- By Todd Becker

United Airlines, ranked among the world’s five largest airlines, consumes billions of gallons of fuel each year, flying travelers all over the globe. Aggressively pursuing its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the company is wasting no time scaling up its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—the most promising straightline strategy to its target.

United recently entered into a joint venture with Green Plains and Tallgrass to develop and scale up an SAF technology established by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The joint venture, capitalizing on the four key components of feedstock, technology, infrastructure and demand, represents a first-of-its-kind business strategy in the SAF space. But it also intro-

duces PNNL’s novel, shortened conversion process employing the only feedstock that can meet SAF demand: ethanol.

The Strategy

United, Green Plains and Tallgrass launched joint venture Blue Blade Energy at the end of January, with goals of developing PNNL’s technology, building a pilot

plant in 2024 and then constructing a fullscale production facility by 2028. Depending on development success, Blue Blade Energy could be United’s largest supplier of SAF, with an offtake of up to 135 MMgy, up to a total of 2.7 billion gallons over 20 years.

Beyond a standard offtake agreement, Green Plains and Tallgrass envisioned a true partner that would participate in the development of the technology, not simply use the fuel. The groundbreaking PNNL technology to arrive at a drop-in renewable fuel deserves a groundbreaking business strategy.

The Technology

PNNL’s technology is novel in a variety of ways. First, the chemistry is completely new to the sector, converting ethanol to SAF via ketone intermediates.

The new catalyst converts ethanol to a carbon-oxygen molecule bond, easier to break for conversion to the final jet fuel product than the competing carbon-carbon bonds. This jump over the traditional olefin step results in a single-step conversion, eliminating one operational unit and the energy required for ethanol dehydration.

The process is exothermic versus endothermic, which saves even more energy. The robust catalyst enabling this process

is highly tolerant to water and other oxygenate impurities.

Critical Mass, Policy Support

While several technologies with different feedstock requirements exist in the market today, ethanol is the only feedstock with the available production volume to help meet the scale of demand for SAF. Vegetable oils aren’t available in the enormous volumes needed. Conversely, the U.S. ethanol industry produces more than 16 billion gallons annually. It’s all about critical mass: If the goal is to make an impact on low-carbon jet fuels, it has to come through alcohol. Alcohol-to-jet is also needed to meet the White House’s SAF Grand Challenge of 3 billion gallons by 2030.

It’s certainly a new world for ethanol. SAF represents a market that actually wants to use ethanol. The industry isn’t fighting for its share of the gas tank or for access to the consumer; it’s producing for a demand base that wants it. SAF is an opportunity for the ethanol industry to be pulled through instead of pushing into the market, driven by demand. Ethanol is already renewable and most producers, including Green Plains, are looking to further reduce emissions through carbon capture and storage, as well as other endeavors. With the potential for ethanol to be a net carbon zero fuel, the opportunities in new markets are ample.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 offers support for decarbonization, with the first SAF credit: $1.25-$1.75 per gallon in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, the incentive transitions into the technology-neutral Clean Fuel Production Credit—45Z—an incentive of 2 cents per gallon for each point of carbon intensity reduction below 50, and 3.5 cents per gallon for SAF.

Use of the Argonne GREET life cycle analysis model for SAF will be key, not just for ethanol, but also for vegetable oils.

Both could be precluded from the new program if GREET is not embraced. The U.S. Department of Treasury has an opportunity to fulfill the aims of Congress to rapidly decarbonize all forms of energy and transportation, including aviation. It must get it right.

Transforming Transportation

For Green Plains, the joint venture with United and Tallgrass brings full circle our transformation to a sustainable ingredient producer, filling out the fourth pillar of a focus on protein, oil, sugar and carbon. Green Plains has installed Fluid Quip Technologies’ Maximized Stillage Co-products technology in over half of our platform; is seeing increased renewable corn oil production and hitting record highs in recent quarters as a result of MSC; is building the first commercial-scale dry mill dextrose facility with FQT’s Clean Sugar Technology at our biorefinery in Shenandoah, Iowa; and now, has this joint venture to use lowcarbon ethanol, inching even lower with plans to sequester carbon, in tandem with other carbon-reduction options.

Like United, Green Plains has a goal of 100% carbon reduction by 2050, and we are fully committed to significantly lowering the carbon footprint of our ethanol to meet the sustainability needs of transportation—not just surface transportation, but aviation and marine fuel as well.

This partnership with world class organizations like United Airlines and Tallgrass, scaling up promising technology by PNNL, shows the value creation that is possible with a low-carbon biorefinery platform.

Author: Todd Becker President and CEO Green Plains Inc. Todd.becker@gpreinc.com

Todd Becker, CEO and President, Green Plains

Strategizing for a Smooth Landing

The industry must explore new avenues to meet the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuels.

- By Kevin O'Neil

Sustainable aviation fuel is made from renewable materials such as mustard seeds, sugar cane and used cooking oil.

IMAGE: HONEYWELL

The demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) continues to grow as governments around the world set targets to reduce carbon emissions associated with air travel. As a result, the aviation sector and fuel producers are challenged to dramatically increase SAF production over the coming years. A key hurdle to that rampup is the limited availability of the most accessible feedstocks for SAF production.

Today, fats, oils and greases sourced from restaurant and food production waste are recycled into SAF to minimize lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional fossil fuels. However, SAF today accounts for less than 1% of aviation fuel production, according to estimates. There is widespread concern that there simply isn’t enough of the industry’s default feedstocks to meet the exponentially increasing demand.

The good news is that being developed and commercialized are technologies that utilize abundantly available alternative feedstocks to help fuel producers close the gap, and enable the aviation sector to meet its emission reduction goals.

What’s Driving SAF Demand?

In 2021, the Biden Administration announced its Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge: To generate at least three billion gallons of SAF and reduce aviation emissions by 20% by 2030, and to meet all aviation fuel demand in the United States through sustainable fuel by 2050— approximately 35 billion gallons annually.

The U.S. is far from being the only nation focused on shifting aviation to more sustainable fuel sources. The European Commission released its Fit for 55 plan, a reference to the European Union’s target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. To reach that goal, the EU aims to phase out free emission al-

lowances for aviation under its Emissions Trading System between 2024 and 2026. It also proposes that fuel suppliers blend an increasingly higher level of SAF into flights leaving the larger EU airports.

Ultimately, the EU targets trail only slightly behind those of the U.S., with the European Union Parliament targeting SAF to make up 2% of fuel on flights departing the European Union in 2025, 37% in 2040 and 85% by 2050.

Big Goals, Short Runway

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jet fuel consumption worldwide is projected to increase through 2050. The International Air Transport Association, which itself has approved a resolution for the global air transport industry to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, estimates that 6.076 billion gallons of SAF will be needed by 2030, and 118 billion gallons by 2050.

Even in Europe, with its less ambitious targets, there is a long way to go.

A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation concludes that currently, there is only a sufficient resource base to support approximately 1.04 billion gallons of advanced SAF production annually (depending on the properties of the SAF or feedstock)—5.5% of projected EU jet fuel demand in 2030. ”Production plans depend heavily on edible oils and certain wastes and residues for which there is limited supply and considerable competition,” the International Energy Agency notes. As decarbonization efforts favor increased use of SAF, the demand for feedstocks will only increase.

For SAF to see widespread adoption where government targets can be met, there’s an urgent need to investigate new and alternative feedstocks. Without these, the development of sustainable, affordable and abundant SAF will remain an aspiration rather than reality.

Alternative Feedstocks that Stand to Scale

Fortunately, there is a range of potential and promising feedstocks being explored for which emerging technologies are being developed and commercialized. It is worth considering some of the top contenders—the following are three that stand out.

• Biomass. Examples include woody pulp and other agricultural and forestry byproducts. According to the U.S. DOE, an estimated 1 billion dry tons of biomass from America’s forestry and agricultural residues alone could provide enough biomass to generate 50 billion to 60 billion gallons of low-carbon biofuels, with potential for even more—perhaps enough to completely replace the U.S.’s current fossil jet fuel consumption. New technology, such as that developed by Alder Fuels, can enable the production of SAF from biomass at scale, which can lead to a significant increase in SAF supply.

• Ethanol. Ethanol is an abundant and proven alternative already produced at scale. Producing ethanol from corn, for instance, is a mature industry. SAF can be produced from corn ethanol via emerging ethanol-to-jet technology with potentially a 15% lower carbon intensity than petroleum alternatives. According to a DOE study, ethanol-to-jet fuel conversion, along with smart farming and other existing technologies, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional jet fuel. Ethanol-based SAF can also use cellulose-based agricultural byproduct, which poses challenges to produce in large quantities, but offers the possibility of even greater sustainability benefits. The wheels are already in motion to advance and scale the processing of cellulosic material.

• Carbon dioxide. CO2 from carbon capture operations also offers an alterna-

tive pathway to SAF production through processing scheme options known as power-to-liquids. A promising power-toliquids route combines sequestered carbon with green hydrogen produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis, to first produce methanol with low carbon intensity. Methanol can be converted to SAF via a methanol-to-jet route that uses a series of commercially proven processing steps, first converting the methanol to light olefins, then converting the olefins to heavier olefinic molecules, and finally saturating the heavier olefins to produce jet fuel.

These three feedstocks and the technologies to convert them to SAF are already realistic alternative routes to enabling significant supply of SAF. In September 2021, for instance, United Airlines and Honeywell announced a joint multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels—a cleantech company pioneering technologies for producing SAF from biomass. Honeywell also launched its ethanol-to-jet technology in October 2022, making the new processing scheme available for license. Methanol-toolefins technology, meanwhile, has been commercially practiced since 2013. All three technologies are already available and bring with them a significant base of emerging feedstocks for SAF.

Continuing to Explore: Potential Future Sources

While technology developers commercialize processing technologies to expand production capabilities for biomass, ethanol and carbon dioxide, the innovation doesn’t stop, as new feedstock alternatives are also coming into focus. For example, microalgae. In 2021, Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining technology was used by Japanbased IHI Corp. to convert the company’s novel microalgal oil to SAF for a flight in Japan. The fuel met the new ASTM D7566 Annex 7 standard SAF.

Another example is solid municipal waste. Some companies are working toward the conversion of solid municipal waste, such as discarded plastics, into SAF. This kind of conversion may involve use of gasification or pyrolysis, followed by further processing to produce renewable fuels with low carbon intensities.

Others, meanwhile, are working on converting solid waste materials such as tires into jet fuel.

The demand for SAF is growing significantly and is currently pacing the availability of waste fats, oils and grease feedstocks used to produce it today. To meet adoption goals of both governments and corporations, more SAF supply is needed. New technologies are being developed and commercialized to efficiently utilize new and abundantly available feedstocks to enable a growing supply of SAF. Honeywell UOP, as a leading technology pro-

vider in the renewable fuels space, considers biomass-based production using new technology, such as that developed by Alder Fuels, plus ethanol-to-jet and powerto-liquids using the methanol-to-jet route, to be very promising and anticipates these will be competitive pathways in contributing to the decarbonization of the aviation industry.

Author: Kevin O'Neil Senior Business Leader of Renewable Fuels Honeywell

SAF is a low-carbon alternative to conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel.

IMAGE: HONEYWELL