Gevo, Inc. and Axens North America, Inc. have established a strategic alliance aimed at accelerating the commercialization of sustainable ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) projects in the United States.
As part of the alliance, Axens brings technologies with over 60 related patents; engineering packages; proprietary catalysts; and certain proprietary equipment required to convert ethanol into jet fuel. Axens would also provide process guarantees for commercial ETJ projects. Gevo expects to develop, own, and operate ETJ plants to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), utilizing its expertise in renewable alcohol production and technologies; Net-Zero business model; project financing expertise; customer relationships, and contracts.
It is now possible to make olefins from ethanol and butanol instead of petroleum, so the companies says the same commercially proven technologies can be deployed to make renewable hydrocarbon fuels. “Gevo’s approach makes it possible to decarbonize the ethanol supply chain and thus utilize technologies originally developed and well-proven for fossil-hydrocarbon production to produce renewable, drop-in fuels,” said Axens CEO Jean Sentenac.
The collaboration between Gevo and Axens is expected to allow Gevo to rapidly partner with existing ethanol producers to deploy proven technologies at commercial scales consistent with the airline industry’s sustainability goals.
“We see that there is great potential to convert ethanol into SAF and other hydrocarbons. Additionally, there is synergy with Gevo proprietary isobutanol production technology that is expected to result in unique product blending synergies for producing low-carbon gasoline, SAF, and renewable diesel. We know from our work on the Net-Zero business model that it is possible to drive the fossil-based GHG and related emissions footprint very low or even negative while producing drop-in hydrocarbon fuels like SAF and we think the model can apply to ETJ too,” said Dr. Patrick R. Gruber, Chief Executive Officer of Gevo.
To any ethanol plant owners out there who want to change their game and get into Net-Zero type SAF and hydrocarbons, please give us a call,” continued Dr. Gruber.