US offers conditional loans guarantees of up to $3 billion for two sustainable aviation fuels projects
The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that it had approved conditional loan guarantees totaling almost $3 billion for two projects involving sustainable aviation fuel.
Loan Programs Office of the agency said that the funding up to $1.44billion to Calumet would support its expansion in Montana.
The facility will use vegetable oils, fats and greases in order to produce SAF (renewable diesel) and renewable naphtha.
The agency stated that if the loan guarantee is finalized, it will fund the expansion of the facility to produce approximately 315 million gallons of biofuels per year, of which the majority will be SAF.
The White House wants to meet the U.S. aviation fuel needs with SAF in 2050, and supply at least three billion gallons annually by 2030.
DOE stated that once the Montana facility reaches its full capacity, it will represent 10% of SAF Grand Challenge's goal of 3 billion gallons per year by 2030.
The government agency also approved a loan guarantee of up to 1,46 billion dollars to renewable fuels firm Gevo, to help finance an corn starch to jet fuel facility in Lake Preston South Dakota.
DOE stated that Gevo will be the first integrated commercial-scale facility to convert cornstarch into SAF, with carbon capture and solar power.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration anticipates that domestic biofuel production will increase by approximately 50% by 2024. This is primarily due to the increased production of SAF. Reporting by Mariam Sunny from Bengaluru, Editing by Tasim Zaid
(source: Reuters)
