World’s first plant making sustainable jet fuel from ethanol to start operating in US after delay
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Owner LanzaJet is being closely watched as a barometer for the success of the nascent ethanol-to-jet industry.
PHOTO: LANZAJET INC.
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GEORGIA – The world’s first factory designed to make green jet fuel from ethanol is expected to start operations before the end of 2025 after several delays, according to owner LanzaJet.
The US$200 million (S$257 million) facility in rural Georgia, initially scheduled to start commercial production in 2024, is now expected to begin operating by the end of September, LanzaJet chief executive Jimmy Samartzis said in an interview.
The latest delay was the result of equipment issues, he added.
LanzaJet, which received US government funds to build the facility, is being closely watched as a barometer for the success of the nascent ethanol-to-jet industry.
The company imported Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol in 2024 to pilot production, but more than a year later, it has not been able to sell its green jet fuel in the open market.
“My hope is that by the end of the third quarter we are fully operating,” Mr Samartzis said.
“The modifications we made to the equipment that was hindering us, unrelated to the technology itself, should satisfy what we need.”
A flurry of deals among airlines, fuel-makers and agriculture companies have been announced since 2021, when then President Joe Biden called for 11.3 billion litres of annual domestic sustainable aviation fuel production by the end of this decade.
The market has since soared more than sevenfold to 146. 4 million litres in 2024, according to US government data.
Green jet fuel, or SAF, can be made from a range of raw materials.
But most American corn-ethanol is not low-carbon enough to qualify for a tax credit aimed at boosting production of domestic renewable fuels, known as 45Z.
The new law also states that the tax credit applies only to producers of SAF made using ingredients from North America. That is freezing out the very sugar cane ethanol from Brazil that LanzaJet plans to use.
Still, Mr Samartzis said production at the Soperton, Georgia, facility will start with Brazilian ethanol even if the company cannot benefit from the credit.
That is because only a scant amount of US product meets the required threshold of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent.
LanzaJet said it plans to switch to American feedstocks as soon as possible, with Mr Samartzis now advocating for a threshold on emissions reduction of as low as 30 per cent.
The company’s factory in Georgia will produce 37.8 million litres of SAF and renewable diesel a year when operations eventually start. BLOOMBERG
