U.S. energy department backs $3 billion in loans for green jet fuel projects

The U.S. Department of Energy has taken a big step to support green aviation fuel production‚ About a year ago it okayed loan guarantee commitments of nearly $3 billion for two sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects

The Departments Loan Programs Office said that funding of up to $144 billion would go to Calumets unit to help grow its Montana facility The place will use vegetable oils fats and greases to make SAF renewable diesel and renewable naphtha If the deal goes through‚ the loan guarantee would fund an expansion to produce about 315 million gallons of biofuels yearly; most of it being SAF

The White House wants to meet all of the U.Sʼs aviation fuel demand with SAF by 2050 and to supply at least 3 billion gallons of SAF yearly by 2030 When the Montana facility reaches full capacity its output would be 10% of the SAF Grand Challenge goal of 3 billion gallons yearly by 2030

The government body also gave the thumbs-up to an up to $146 billion loan guarantee to renewable fuels company Gevo to help pay for a corn starch-to-jet fuel facility in Lake Preston South Dakota Gevo would be the first big-scale facility in the U.S to turn corn starch into SAF with carbon capture and renewable power

The U.S Energy Information Administration thinks domestic production of biofuels will go up by about 50% this year led by rising SAF production