Municipal Solid Waste to Jet Fuel Firm Secures $105m USDA Loan Guarantee for Nevada Project

Pleasanton, California based waste to renewable transport fuel specialist, Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels, has secured a $105 million loan guarantee through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biorefinery Assistance Program. The company explained that the funds will enable to construct a facility in McCarran, Nevada to convert municipal solid waste into bio jet fuel. The plant is expected to produce 11 million gallons (41 million litres) of fuel annually. According to Fulcrum this is the first loan guarantee USDA has made for the production of bio jet fuel, and represents less than half of the $266 million project cost. The company said that once complete the facility will produce synthesis gas from 147,000 tons (133,000 tonnes) of municipal solid waste and catalytically convert it to synthetic paraffinic kerosene/jet fuel through a proprietary technology. The plant will be the first of what the company expects to be several bio jet fuel plants throughout the country. Last month, Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it is investing in Fulcrum Bioenergy, the parent company of Fulcrum Sierra BioFuels, and has negotiated a long-term supply agreement with Fulcrum for 375 million gallons (1.4 billion litres) of sustainable aviation fuel over 10 years. According to the company this would represent about 2% of the airline's annual fuel consumption. Biorefinery Assistance Program Congress established the Biorefinery Assistance Program in the 2008 Farm Bill. It reauthorised and extended the program in the 2014 Farm Bill. The 2014 Bill expands the program to include bio-based renewable chemicals and bio-based product manufacturing. USDA staff are working on regulations to set forth upcoming application terms for additional loan guarantees under the program. USDA awarded the first loan guarantee in 2009 to Sapphire Energy in New Mexico, and according to Fulcrum, Sapphire has already paid off its $54.5 million loan guarantee. The program's current portfolio includes Fremont Community Digester, located in Fremont, Michigan, which received a $12.8 million loan in 2011 to convert food and agricultural waste to biogas. Another beneficiary has been the INEOS New Plant Bioenergy, located in Vero Beach, Florida, which received a $75 million loan in 2011 to produce cellulosic ethanol from woody biomass and municipal solid waste. USDA is also negotiating three additional loans for biorefineries in Iowa, North Carolina and Oregon. These would provide financing to produce renewable fuels from woody biomass, municipal solid waste and energy grasses such as switch grass, miscanthus and arundo donax. The department explained that biorefineries have broad economic and environmental implications, lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on foreign oil, give businesses and consumers more energy options and create jobs. Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, who announced the latest guarantee for Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels, said: "This represents a huge step forward in the development of clean, renewable, job-creating American fuels. The nation is entering a new energy age that will make us more energy independent, cut carbon pollution and strengthen our economy, especially in rural communities where clean fuels will be produced." USDA is awarding Fulcrum a $105 million Biorefinery Assistance Program loan guarantee through Bank of America, N.A. to construct a facility in McCarran, Nev., to convert municipal solid waste to biodiesel jet fuel. Read More VIDEO: POET-DSM Brings ‘Fantasy’ Waste to Advanced Biofuel Facility Online in Iowa POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, a joint venture between Royal DSM and South Dakota firm company, POET, has opened its 20 million gallon agricultural waste to advanced biofuel facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa. Fulcrum to Develop Aviation Biofuels from Waste with DoD Grant Fulcrum BioEnergy, has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop renewable ‘drop in’ aviation biofuels. Fulcrum Secures $175 for Waste to Fuel Gasification Project Fulcrum BioEnergy has secured commitments and is proceeding toward closing financings totalling $175 million to fund construction of its first municipal solid waste (MSW) to low-carbon fuels plant. The X-tremophiles: Supercharging Organic Waste Digestion A newly commercialised technology is exploiting the 'super powers' of extremophile organisms to digest organic materials in a variety of waste streams at £2 per tonne.