Grant From Bill Gates-led Fund Will Make Green Jet Fuel As Cheap As Fossil Fuels
The burgeoning market for sustainable jet fuel will soon reach a milestone, with a plant capable of turning out for the first time a lower-emission fuel at the same price as fossil fuel-based options. But this price parity will only come as result of a $50 million grant from Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures, alongside support from discounted loans and other financial subsidies.
LanzaJet, the startup backed by Breakthrough, is building its first commercial plant in the US state of Georgia and expects to begin production next year. The facility will double the current US capacity for making sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
While the global aviation sector is responsible for only about 3% of the gases that are warming the planet today, its emissions are rising fast. In a world that needs to reach net-zero emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change, green solutions are desperately needed to meet the increasing demand for flying.
SAF is one such solution. It is a broad label given to aviation-compliant fuel that's made from more sustainable sources than traditional kerosene-based jet fuel, although so far SAF has been held back by limited supplies that are sold at much higher prices.
LanzaJet's technology takes ethanol from sources such as sugarcane in Brazil, waste gas in China or corn in the US and then chemically converts it into SAF and renewable diesel. Depending on the feedstock used to make the ethanol, LanzaJet says the greenhouse-gas emissions from its SAF could be as much as 85% lower than conventional fuel.
The chemistry to convert alcohol to jet fuel was developed nearly 100 years ago, but it has since been refined to work at much higher efficiency and lower costs. LanzaJet claims it
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