Companies to build Nev. plant to turn garbage into jet fuel
Source: Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter • Posted: Wednesday, May 6, 2015
The “Sierra BioFuels Plant” will be the nation’s first biorefinery to use gasification technology to produce jet fuel out of municipal solid waste, the companies said. The plant will divert 200,000 tons of garbage from landfills, including waste from the Reno-Tahoe gambling industry, and produce 10 million gallons of biofuel annually.
Last September, Fulcrum received a $105 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture toward the construction of the plant 20 miles east of Reno. Fulcrum is also one of three advanced biofuel companies to win $70 million in awards last year through the Defense Production Act, an effort by the Obama administration to use military purchasing power to spur the creation of a commercial-scale biofuel industry.
According to a news release, the contract announced today between Abengoa and Fulcrum is worth $200 million.
“We are eager to add Abengoa to our team,” E. James Macias, president and CEO of Fulcrum, said in a statement. “Abengoa has the skill and horsepower to take our design and technology development and successfully turn it into an operating commercial plant.”
Abengoa last year opened one of the nation’s first large-scale cellulosic ethanol plants in Hugoton, Kan. (Greenwire, Oct. 17, 2014).
Abengoa will engineer, design and construct the biorefinery in Nevada under the fixed-price contract with Fulcrum.
Last year, Fulcrum also announced a partnership with Cathay Pacific Airways in which the airline agreed to purchase 275 million gallons of jet fuel produced by Fulcrum over 10 years.