Solid waste to jet fuel

USDA closed a loan guarantee to build a bio-refinery to produce jet fuel from solid waste.    The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently closed on a $105 million loan guarantee to Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels to build a bio-refinery to produce jet fuel from municipal solid waste.
   The loan is part of the USDA’s Biorefinery Assistance Program through Bank of America. The company will construct a facility in McCarran, Nev., where city waste will be converted biodiesel jet fuel. USDA Rural Development’s loan guarantee represents less than half of the $266 million project cost. The plant is expected to produce 11 million gallons of fuel annually. 
   This is the first loan guarantee USDA has made for the production of bio jet fuel. 
   Last month, Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it is investing in Fulcrum Bioenergy Inc., the parent company of Fulcrum Sierra BioFuels, and has negotiated a long-term supply agreement with Fulcrum for 375 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over 10 years. This would represent about 2 percent of the airline’s annual fuel consumption. 
   Congress established the Biorefinery Assistance Program in the 2008 Farm Bill. It reauthorized 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.