Plans for a 120,000 million gallons per annum ethanol-to-sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in the Midwest US have been unveiled by Avina.
The clean hydrogen and derivative fuel solutions specialist has already completed the preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) for the project and hopes to start the FEED phase in Q2 2024.
The site will employ licenced technology processes to convert low-carbon ethanol into a high-grade jet fuel. It will also leverage existing rail and pipeline infrastructure for end-product delivery to Chicago O’Hare Airport, among others.
Avina has already signed long-term supply agreements with leading ethanol suppliers for a significant portion of the low carbon intensity ethanol feedstock volume requirement, a major milestone in moving the project forward.
Substantial volumes of ethanol will be supplied by facilities with operational carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The low-carbon ethanol feedstock should avoid around 840,000 metric tonnes of aviation-related emissions annually.
Funding commitments for the project through FID have been secured, and Avina is currently engaged in advanced discussions with various strategic and financial investors to fund the project at FID.
Vishal Shah, CEO and founder of Avina Clean Hydrogen, says that the strategic location, scale, and cost-effectiveness offer a significant advantage for the US SAF project.
He continued, “SAFs are critical to decarbonising the aviation sector, and the ethanol-to-jet production pathway is the most immediate, cost-effective, and scalable option for aviation decarbonisation.”
“With the procurement of low-carbon-intensity ethanol from existing production facilities that have CO2 capture and sequestration, we are excited about the project’s potential to drive the aviation industry’s decarbonisation efforts forward.”
The US airline industry is experiencing a notable demand for SAF in response to commitments to use three billion gallons of SAF by 2030.
In terms of the bigger picture, the project contributes to the Biden Administration’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge for the US aviation fuel supply sector to produce at least three billion gallons of SAF a year by 2030.
Decarbonisation Summit 2024: Industrial Gases and Clean Energies 3.0
The global industrial gas and equipment business has an imperative role to play in the future of clean fuels and decarbonisation. The energy transition simply won’t happen without it.
At the same time, the industry has its own activities to decarbonise and circular economies to carve out – think green air gases and bio-based carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as CO2 utilisation and e-fuels, and so much more besides.
There are pathways to progress and questions to answer on this journey, not least:
- What are the compelling clean fuels and what do the pathways to production look like?
- How can the gases industry participate in this playground of opportunities?
- What can other alternative fuels mean for the CO2 industry and its stakeholders?
These questions and more will be in the spotlight at gasworld’s Decarbonisation Summit in April 2024. Interested in speaking and contributing? Get in touch with our Content Director, Rob Cockerill, at [email protected]
To attend, sponsor and for more information, visit https://bit.ly/GWDECARB-S24
