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Gevo wins funding to develop waste-to-biofutures projects in Australia

Published: 15:44 27 Feb 2020 GMT

Gevo Inc - Gevo Inc wins The Queensland Waste to Biofutures funding to support the development of waste-to-biofutures projects in Australia’s second-largest state
Gevo supplied the renewable fuel used in Virgin Australia’s trial of sustainable aviation fuel at Brisbane Airport last year

Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) announced Thursday it has been awarded part of The Queensland Waste to Biofutures (W2B) Fund to support the development of waste-to-biofutures projects in Australia’s second-largest state. 

The W2B fund provides targeted funding for pilot, demonstration or commercially scalable biorefinery projects in Queensland that use conventional waste streams or biomass to produce bioenergy, biofuels and high-value bioproducts.

“We are thrilled to be awarded funding from W2B, which will allow us to further our assessment of a contemplated second-generation (2G) feedstock to biofuel project in Queensland, said Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber in a statement Thursday. 

“Queensland is rich in renewable biomass resources and has expressed the desire to invest in the future of biofuels. This opportunity opens the door for the development of a project that not only supplies low carbon gasoline to Queensland, but also the possibility to supply commercial quantities of 2G sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the Brisbane Airport, expanding upon our demonstrations of SAF supply to commercial airlines like those conducted with Virgin Australia over the last several months.”

READ: Gevo receives certification from Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials

Gevo, based in Englewood, Colorado, supplied the renewable fuel used in Virgin Australia’s trial of sustainable aviation fuel at Brisbane Airport, which was completed in June last year.

“The Queensland Government was excited to be supporting Gevo’s research collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology to turn Queensland sugarcane waste and wood waste into SAF,” said Cameron Dick, minister for state development, speaking from the Bio Based Aviation and Marine Fuels Summit in Gladstone, Queensland. 

“Gevo has recognized that Queensland is the place to be when it comes to the future of biofuels as the company looks forward to an ongoing partnership which has the potential to bring even more business to Queensland, as demand for biofuels grows. In addition to offering environmental benefits by reducing the carbon footprint of plane travel, this project will also help position Queensland as a world-leading location for investment in the manufacture and distribution of this fuel in the global bioproducts and services market.”

Gevo’s participation in the successful sustainable aviation fuel trial at the Brisbane Airport led to Queensland being considered as the location for the company’s first biorefinery outside of the US, Dick said.

2G biomass-to-carbohydrate conversion

For the project, Gevo said it is evaluating the most likely 2G biomass-to-carbohydrate conversion process to use in conjunction with its proven carbohydrate to low carbon biofuel process.

Presently, at Gevo’s facility in Luverne, Minnesota, Gevo fractionates grain from sustainably produced crops to produce protein and animal feed while using the residual carbohydrate portion of the grain for fermentation to produce the intermediate chemical, isobutanol. 

The isobutanol is then chemically transformed using a hydrocarbon processing facility into renewable gasoline, diesel and SAF meeting ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons). The SAF made by this process has very low sulfur, low particulates, and slightly higher energy density than petroleum-based jet fuel.

For every gallon of renewable hydrocarbons produced, like SAF, Gevo also produces approximately 10 pounds of protein that goes into the food supply chain and can sequester up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide as carbon into the soil, making it one of the only renewable jet fuels to produce both food and fuel while sequestering carbon dioxide and lowering the greenhouse emissions as compared to traditional fossil-based jet fuel.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham

 

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