World’s first ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility using Next-Gen SAF Technology; Located in Soperton, Georgia
LanzaJet, a leading sustainable fuels technology company and sustainable fuels producer, have collaborated with government officials, industry leaders, partners, and supporters to open LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels, the world’s first ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility.
LanzaJet’s technology is recognized as the pioneering ethanol to SAF production process and pathway. This ethanol-based technology is the world’s first viable next-generation SAF technology capable of scaling production to the levels needed to decarbonize aviation through widely available and sustainable feedstock, emerging commercial waste-based feedstock solutions, and promising economic conditions.
Located in Soperton, Georgia, LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels represents one of the most promising SAF technologies in nearly a decade to reach commercial readiness, and will produce 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel per year from low carbon, sustainable, and certified ethanol which meets U.S. and global standards.
LanzaJet’s technology enables current and future supply volume to support a scaled SAF industry as well as the White House’s SAF Grand Challenge, which calls for a supply of at least 3 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030 to tangibly reduce aviation emissions. With its proprietary ethanol to SAF technology, LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels serves as a blueprint for utilizing first-of-its-kind innovation to scale SAF production and combat the worsening climate crisis.
LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels plant represents the culmination of a history of firsts within the SAF industry, dating back to its origin in 2010 as the first ethanol to SAF technology to have derived in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL). The technology’s first commercial flights were completed with Virgin Atlantic and All Nippon Airways (ANA) in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis said “Our novel LanzaJet ethanol to SAF process technology is now deployed at our commercial plant in Georgia which will convert ethanol into drop-in SAF. As we start-up the plant, we will continue to refine our technology, while launching our efforts to advance new sustainable fuels projects globally. Between feedstock versatility, efficiency, and economics that enable scale in the US and globally, we stand ready to meet aviation’s decarbonization goals established at the United Nations and country ambitions, such as the U.S. SAF Grand Challenge.”
LanzaJet was joined at Wednesday’s event by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols, Treutlen County Commissioner Phil Jennings, and Soperton Mayor John Koon. Additionally, the opening of Freedom Pines Fuels also featured LanzaJet shareholders International Airlines Group (IAG), LanzaTech, Mitsui & Co, Shell, and Suncor Energy and investors such as the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Breakthrough Energy, British Airways, and All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The SAF produced by LanzaJet in Soperton, Georgia will be used immediately as drop-in fuel for existing aircraft in an aviation industry, which contributes two to three percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions from humans. The technology used at LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% and produced from a variety of sustainable feedstocks, such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, energy crops, carbon captured from industrial processes, and more.
LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels is fully funded and has committed offtake agreements for all fuel produced in the next 10 years. Located in Treutlen County, Georgia and less than 100 miles from Savannah, the facility will have created more than 250 total jobs and generate an estimated $70 million in annual economic activity for the local economy
