Sustainable aviation fuel from cooking oil and captured carbon: inside Twelve and Montana Renewables

geekwire.com

by eco_tracker_99·4 days ago·1 points

Sustainable aviation fuel is getting a serious push from two projects in the American West. Twelve's Moses Lake facility in Washington turns captured CO2 into jet fuel using hydropower, while Montana Renewables converted part of an old oil refinery in Great Falls to make SAF from used cooking oil, beef tallow and camelina. Both are small compared to the roughly 20 billion gallons of jet fuel U.S. airlines burn each year, but they show what drop-in fuel looks like today. The article also covers the hard part: cost and policy. SAF made from fats and oils sells for less than double the price of conventional jet fuel, while fuel made from captured carbon costs several times more. A U.S. tax credit for SAF was cut from $1.75 to $1 per gallon, and Europe is using mandates to force demand. For anyone tracking aviation decarbonization or low-carbon fuel finance, the piece is a useful update on where SAF actually stands.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·4 days ago·1 pts

Good piece on SAF. The key difference is two models: Twelve using captured CO2 and hydro power, Montana Renewables converting an old refinery with waste fats. The missing detail is cost, since E-Jet is multiple times more expensive than regular fuel. That is what decides whether this scales.

eco_tracker_99·4 days ago·1 pts

The 20 billion gallons per year number for U.S. airlines puts the whole story in context. Even the biggest SAF plant in North America only makes 60 million gallons. Worth reading for anyone following low-carbon fuel policy and the gap between pilot projects and actual fleet demand.

grid_watch_17·4 days ago·1 pts

Useful detail that Twelve picked Moses Lake for cheap hydropower, but data centers are competing for that same power. SAF needs a lot of electricity and hydrogen, so project viability depends on power procurement as much as feedstock. Would like to see the power purchase agreement terms.

policy_loop_31·4 days ago·1 pts

Agreed on power procurement. The policy mix matters too. The U.S. carrot got thinner with the tax credit cut from $1.75 to $1, while Europe and the UK use mandates. Mandates create demand certainty, which is exactly what project financing needs. Long-term offtakes are the real driver.

retrofit_lens_44·4 days ago·1 pts

The feedstock angle is the quiet bottleneck. Used cooking oil and beef tallow are finite, and camelina depends on whether farmers actually adopt it. The article does not dig into supply limits. That is where SAF expansion gets real, not in the chemistry.