US sustainable aviation fuel production startup DG Fuels has selected Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology co-developed by Johnson Matthey and energy giant bp for its proposed $4 billion SAF plant near the Mississippi River in Louisiana. Subject to approval being received this year, the St. James Parish facility could be in operation by 2028 and would be the largest announced FT SAF production operation in the world, says DG Fuels, with a planned capacity of 13,000 barrels per day, or around 120-135 million gallons of SAF annually. The FT CANS technology is feedstock agnostic although the facility will use plant waste, primarily sugar cane bagasse. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has acquired SAFFiRE Renewables, which is utilising technology developed at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to convert corn stover, a widely available agricultural residue feedstock in the US, into renewable ethanol. SAFFiRE is now expected to proceed with developing a pilot plant in Kansas to produce ethanol for conversion into SAF by LanzaJet.

Commenting on its collaboration with Johnson Matthey and bp, DG Fuels’ CEO Michael Darcy said: “Using their co-developed FT CANS technology allows DG Fuels to scale SAF at high volume production and competitive prices for the first time ever. This innovation will take our SAF from the sugar cane fields of Louisiana to cleaner skies all across the world.”

DG Fuels has already secured offtake purchase deals with Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, and has a strategic partnership with Airbus to scale up the use of SAF globally. Last November, Air France announced it was investing $4.7 million in the company and the Air France-KLM group acquired an option to purchase up to 25 million gallons (75,000 tons) of SAF annually over a multi-year period beginning in 2029 from the Louisiana plant and a second facility planned in Maine. This is on top of a 2022 offtake agreement by the group for 600,000 tons of SAF from DG Fuels, to be delivered over ten years.

For its first project, the company has earmarked a 3,000-acre (1,200ha) site on the West Bank of St. James Parish for potential development of the near $4bn facility. It says the project is anticipated to create 650 direct permanent jobs, with preference given to local residents and promises to address local needs while protecting the environment and promoting economic prosperity in the area.

To help secure local support for the project, DG Fuels says it has engaged with community members and local government officials to draft a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement that would provide $26 million in funding towards a community centre, a health clinic, paid internships and other benefits. The CBA received support from the St. James Parish Council in February.

The company expects to purchase $120 million of sugar cane waste from local farmers, with nearly one third of this directly benefiting farmers in St. James Parish. This provides an environmentally-friendly and financially attractive alternative to practices where farmers burn the sugar cane trash after harvesting, it adds.

“Our clean facility will have fewer air emissions than a standard US hospital, will have no impact on the Mississippi River and will help to heal our planet,” says the company. “Our fuel made from sugar cane and plant waste is clean, sustainable and created with renewable energy.”

The FT CANS technology converts synthesis gas created in the DG Fuels’ proprietary production process to synthetic crude for further processing into SAF. FT CANS is being used by Fulcrum BioEnergy to convert municipal solid waste into SAF at its Sierra plant.

“Our FT CANS technology solution brings together decades of science and engineering expertise from bp and Johnson Matthey, and this project shows its competitiveness across a range of production scales and feedstock sources the industry needs,” said Noemie Turner, VP Technology Development & Commercialisation at bp. “We’re excited to see the relationship with DG Fuels grow, and we look forward to seeing this project come to fruition.”

Added Christopher Chaput, President of DG Fuels: “With this technology, we will create a product that is responsibly made and can be immediately substituted for conventional aviation fuel with no engine adaptations. This partnership is a significant boost to help the aviation industry reach its climate goals.”

SAFFiRE acquisition

Southwest Airlines first invested in SAFFiRE Renewables during the first phase of the ethanol producer’s pilot project in 2022 and through its newly-launched Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures (SARV) subsidiary, the airline has now moved to acquire the company. As a result, SAFFiRE is expected to proceed with phase two by developing a pilot plant hosted at Conestoga’s Arkalon Energy ethanol facility in Liberal, Kansas.

“This acquisition marks Southwest’s transition from investor to sole owner of SAFFiRE, expressing our confidence in their technology and its potential to advance our sustainability goals, as well as the goals of the broader industry,” commented the airline’s CEO, Bob Jordan.

SAFFiRE is part of a project supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and produce scalable renewable ethanol. The Kansas plant will utilise SAFFiRE’s exclusive technology licence from NREL to process 10 tons of corn stover per day into ethanol, with a plan for the ethanol to be converted into SAF by LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology, which partly owes its development to the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Lab. LanzaJet was added to the SARV portfolio in February when the airline announced a $30 million investment in the ATJ company.

Another agricultural residue, corn stover is the stalks, leaves and husks of corn plants that is largely left to decompose in the fields after the corn harvest each year. SAFFiRE plans for corn stover to be collected by custom harvesters or by local farmers and processed through a proprietary Deacetylation and Mechanical Refining (DMR) technology developed by NREL, called DMR pretreatment.

“Renewable ethanol is an important feedstock to realising high-volume, affordable SAF, which is a critical part of the journey to net zero emissions,” said Tom Nealon, President of SARV and CEO of SAFFiRE. “We are enthusiastic about the ethanol-to-SAF pathway and SAFFiRE’s potential ability to produce renewable ethanol at a scale that is economically viable.”

Image: Render of the proposed DG Fuels SAF facility on the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana

Christopher Surgenor

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Two emerging US producers of sustainable aviation fuel have won significant new support, with Houston-based Cemvita Corporation announcing a 20-year SAF offtake deal from United Airlines, and New York-based DG Fuels securing Airbus as a strategic partner. United, which last year invested in Cemvita, has now committed to acquire 1 billion gallons (almost 3.8 billion litres) of SAF from the company, or up to 50 million gallons (189 million litres) per year. The fuel will be made from recycled carbon dioxide. The Airbus partnership with DG Fuels includes agreement that a portion of the SAF produced at the company’s first plant in Louisiana will be for Airbus customers. DG Fuels will use wind and solar power to produce SAF from cellulosic waste products such as forestry residue. It plans to begin SAF production in 2026.

United’s investment in Cemvita served the dual purpose of increasing renewable fuel pathways and securing the airline’s own long-term supplies of SAF. The Cemvita fuel acquired by United will be produced by using synthetic biology, a method which recreates the natural process of photosynthesis to convert CO2 to non-fossil fuels or chemicals. 

“Cemvita’s technology has the potential to provide more reliable feedstock production with minimal land, water and electricity needs,” the company explained. It said output of eCO2 plants had the potential to be carbon-negative, and that Cemvita aimed to be cost-competitive with existing crop-based HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) feedstocks and fuels.

“Since our initial investment last year, Cemvita has made outstanding progress, including opening their new pilot plant – an important step towards producing sustainable aviation fuel,” said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures, which invests in like-minded businesses focused on new aviation technologies.

“United is the global leader in SAF production investment,” he said, “but we face a real shortage of available fuel and producers. Cemvita’s technology represents a path forward for a potentially significant supply of SAF and it’s our hope that this offtake agreement for up to 1 billion gallons is just the beginning of our collaboration.”

Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita, welcomed the added commitment from United and its role in accelerating the energy transition.

“Biology is capable of truly amazing things,” he said. “This agreement featuring our unique SAF platform is a major milestone towards demonstrating our journey to full commercialisation.”

Neither company specified a timeline for the latest deal. 

Like United in its Cemvita investment, the Airbus partnership with DG Fuels is designed to accelerate new production pathways for SAF, and access for its own customers, as demand for the low-emission fuels increases. The partnership – details of which were not disclosed – will also support DG Fuels’ aims by early 2024 to launch the equity process and reach a final investment decision on building its first plant in the US.

“Sustainable aviation fuels play a crucial role in enabling aviation’s decarbonisation roadmap,” said Airbus CEO Guillame Faury. “We are committed to supporting all efforts that contribute to making them available at scale around the globe.

“The partnership with DG Fuels supports the emergence of a new technological pathway, allowing for the production of SAFs from a broader range of waste and residue resources, first in the US, with a potential for large-scale production worldwide.”

Initially, DG Fuels is targeting an average annual production capacity of 120 million gallons (454 million litres), which it estimates could avert 1.5 million tonnes of aircraft CO2 emissions from 2026.

“The DG Fuels team is excited to have finalised this SAF partnership with Airbus. We look forward to working together to accelerate the initial SAF facility in Louisiana and the subsequent scale-up at various locations in the United States and beyond,” said Michael Darcy, Chairman and CEO of DG Fuels. 

The two US SAF developments closely follow the release of a new global survey, which found SAF offtake deals in the first seven months of 2023 were less than half the number of deals of the previous year. The study, by energy sector analyst S&P Global Commodity Insights, says policy decisions in Europe and the US have driven a surge of commitments to secure SAF, overtaking supplies promised by fuel producers.

As well, says the report, concerns over the availability of appropriate feedstocks to produce the new fuels have dampened the growth outlook for the SAF sector.

“There was a rush to secure SAF deals in 2021-22 ahead of the introduction of the RefuelEU Aviation package, as airline companies did not want to be left out from the race,” said S&P biofuels analyst Akman Ozel.

And following the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, many more investment decisions, offtake agreements and Memorandums of Understanding were signed, added US-based S&P biofuels analyst Jamie Dorner. “Recently, though, it has become clearer that at that rate, offtake agreements were beginning to outpace supply, which has in part contributed to the fever cooling off,” she said.    

Photo (Jane Widdowson / Beetroot): Airbus

Tony Harrington

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DG Fuels (DGF), a New York-based renewable energy start-up, has announced a $4 billion-plus sale to an undisclosed industrial client of 230 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel plus a combination of Californian SAF and Federal carbon credits generated by DGF’s new Louisiana production plant. The deal is DGF’s third major SAF agreement in as many months, following the sale to Delta Air Lines of 385 million gallons of the fuel, and a further 210 million gallons commitment by Air France-KLM, a total of 825 million gallons. All the SAF will be produced by converting cellulosic biomass feedstock such as timber waste, using a new high carbon conversion efficiency system, which is designed to use up to 97% of the carbon contained within the fuel feedstock, minimising the need to permanently store unused carbon. The company estimates that through this patented process it can produce three-to-four times more SAF than competitors can from the same amount of feedstock. DGF has also announced plans to develop a second SAF production plant in the East Coast state of Maine.

DG Fuels’ latest deal provides for SAF deliveries to the undisclosed “investment grade” industrial buyer of 46 million gallons per year over five years. DGF expects that the total volume of 230 million gallons will deliver life cycle emission reductions of up to 3.5 million metric tons over the initial minimum term of the agreement. The company also expects its new production process to deliver a carbon intensity (CI) score of -39 grams per megajoule, 140% less than conventional Jet A fuel.

As well as buying SAF, DGF said the customer would buy all State of California low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credits and all US Federal renewable identification number (RIN) carbon credits generated by the Louisiana facility, commencing in late 2026 or early 2027. Based on today’s prices, the company valued the combination of SAF plus the California and federal credits at more than $4 billion over the five-year term of the combined SAF and carbon credit purchase deal.

“With this agreement, combined with our previously-announced offtake agreements, DGF has sold out 100% of the expected initial production of approximately 120 million gallons per year,” said Christopher Chaput, the company’s President and CFO.  

To help accommodate continued growth in demand for SAF, DGF has announced plans for a second production plant in the US, to be located on the site of the former Loring Air Force Base near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostock County, Maine. The company has signed long-term leases with the Loring Development Authority for 1,240 acres (500 hectares) of land, part of which was once used as a base for military aircraft including B52 bombers and Boeing KC-135A aerial refuelling platforms. Subject to financing, construction is expected to commence in summer 2024 and be completed by 2027.

Michael Darcy, CEO of DG Fuels, said the new plant in Maine would produce “little or no environmental emissions” while also supporting the local economy by providing a customer for waste from the timber industry plus “all forms of agricultural waste”.

The company said that at its initial expected output of approximately 175 million gallons per year, SAF produced at the Maine plant would effectively remove an annual 1.5 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

“The location in Northern Maine affords DGF key logistical and environmental advantages,” the company said. “The ability to import stranded hydro-electric power and regional timber and agricultural waste while exporting net zero carbon SAF by pipeline helps reduce the overall product carbon intensity. DGF’s SAF formula also has a higher energy density than conventional Jet A, providing our airline customers with operational advantages in addition to the environmental benefits.”  

While it is yet to decide which markets will be served by the Maine SAF facility, DGF said it was “actively exploring” the delivery of SAF to airports in New York City and other major East Coast destinations, as well as markets supported by state incentives, similar to credits offered in California.

The world’s second-largest airline Delta will acquire 385 million gallons of a new, low-emission sustainable aviation fuel from emerging US-based supplier DG Fuels in a seven-year deal due to take effect from 2027. DG Fuels will produce the SAF from biomass feedstocks using a new process which it says will cut lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 85% compared to conventional aviation fuels. Unlike other SAF programmes, which DG Fuels says only consume a small amount of the carbon stored in feedstocks, its new system will use up to 97%, recycling excess CO2 to produce more SAF. “There’s not more carbon in the feedstock we use. We have developed a system that converts more of the carbon into SAF,” said DG Fuels President and CFO Christopher Chaput, who claims the process can produce three-to-four times more SAF from the same amount of biomass than its competitors.

Delta has been one of the most active purchasers of SAF, committing earlier this year to a massive 525 million gallons from renewable energy group Gevo for delivery over seven years from mid-2026. As well as increasing its SAF supplies, the new deal with DG Fuels aligns with a previous commitment by Delta to replace at least 5% of its conventional jet fuel by 2030 with SAF that reduces lifecycle emissions by at least 85%. The airline has also pledged that by 2030, 10% of its total jet fuel will be SAF.

“Achieving a sustainable future for travel will require us all to work together across industries and encourage innovations like DG Fuels’ new low-emissions SAF option,” said Delta’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Pam Fletcher. “SAF is essential to our industry’s more sustainable future, and new supply chain streams will help ensure sustainable fuel becomes more available and affordable.”

With soaring demand for non-fossil fuels and restrictions on the use of some controversial feedstocks, there is a growing shift to sources other than increasingly-expensive fats, oils and greases (FOGs), which are currently the most common bases for SAF. DG Fuels says timber waste will be used for Delta’s SAF, of which 55 million gallons will be delivered in each year of the agreement. Corn stover and cotton gin waste – the seeds surrounding cotton fibres – are also feedstock options for the fuel.

“Cellulosic biomass feedstock SAF is the key to scaled deployment that moves the needle for the aviation industry in reducing its carbon footprint,” said DG Fuels’ Chaput. “Delta is a known innovator in the airline industry, so we’re excited to work with them on implementing this long-term partnership.” As well as maximising carbon utilisation, DG Fuels claims its new SAF will offer 7% more energy density than conventional jet fuels, providing either greater flying range or higher payloads. “In the example of a fully-fuelled Boeing 747 aircraft, it would have an additional 17,500 pounds payload for the same range.”

DG Fuels intends to develop SAF production facilities in North America and Europe, with the first to be established in the US state of Louisiana. Site preparation will begin late in 2023, plant construction is expected to take three years, and the first fuel deliveries are expected by the last quarter of 2026. Initially, said the company, some excess CO2 might be sequestered until sufficient green power is available to scale up the conversion of syngas to liquid SAF.  

As well as making it the biggest SAF customer for DG Fuels, this deal also progresses Delta’s Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) goal to reduce its ‘well-to-wake’ scope 1 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 45% per revenue tonne kilometre by 2035, compared to 2019. The initiative has been developed to both define and promote emissions reductions goals that climate scientists believe are necessary for a 1.5 C degree future.

Late last year, Delta joined the First Movers Coalition, a public-private partnership and advocacy platform created to expedite and scale up the development of breakthrough technologies and fuels to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of hard-to-abate industries, including air transport. The initiative, led by the US State Department and the World Economic Forum, was announced during last year’s COP26.

Announcing the airline’s participation in the coalition, Delta’s Managing Director of Sustainability, Amelia DeLuca, said the advocacy group “will help spur the markets and policy environment essential to developing the sustainable fuels and technologies needed to combat climate change.” The airline is also a member of other climate change action groups including the Mission Possible Partnership, Clean Skies for Tomorrow, Aviation Climate Taskforce, and the LEAF Coalition, all intent on actions to help mitigate aviation’s contribution to global warming.

In addition to its SAF commitments, Delta has recently announced a major renewal of its narrowbody jet fleet, placing firm orders for 100 Boeing 737-10 aircraft for delivery from 2025. The airline also has options to acquire another 30 of the jets, the largest variant of the 737 MAX family, which the airframer says will be 30% more fuel efficient than older aircraft they will replace. Delta also recently introduced the first of 155 new Airbus A321neo jets, all of which are due to be delivered by 2027.  

Photo: Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 MAX