USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday a loan guarantee to help a company turn waste into a renewable jet fuel. The $105 million loan guarantee provided through the Bio-refinery Assistance Program will help Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels to build a bio-refinery. The refinery will produce jet fuel from municipal solid waste near Las Vegas Nevada. 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.
Fulcrum will produce gas from 147,000 tons of municipal solid waste and convert it to synthetic paraffinic kerosene or jet fuel through a proprietary technology. The plant will be the first of what the company expects to be several bio jet fuel plants throughout the country. USDA is negotiating three additional loans for bio-refineries in Iowa, North Carolina and Oregon. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said “the nation is entering a new energy age that will make us more energy independent, cut carbon pollution and strengthen our economy, especially in rural communities where clean fuels will be produced.”
Source: NAFB News Service