A Montana renewable fuels company which had its previously approved $1.44 billion federal loan guarantee temporarily delayed under the new presidential administration is now up and running to commission onsite blending and shipping of its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced in its expanded facility.
Montana Renewables (MRL) is working with Calumet Montana Refining on a 50/50 blend of renewable and fossil jet fuel certified to industry specifications. SAF is produced at Montana Renewables’ Great Falls facility and will be distributed through AEG Fuels’ network to selected aviation hubs in Montana, Washington and Oregon.
"AEG Fuels is honored to collaborate with Montana Renewables on this landmark SAF inaugural blend," said Landon Larson, Vice President, Supply NA at AEG Fuels, in a statement. "Together, we're demonstrating how strategic partnerships can accelerate the transition to sustainable aviation and deliver real value to operators across our fueling network."
Utilizing organic feedstock from agriculture, SAF is refined to the same energy densities of conventional fossil jet fuel and can be used as a drop-in to blend fuels. The carbon footprint of SAF is less than refined jet fuel, according to reports.
MRL’s facility in Great Falls is designed to produce approximately 300 million gallons of SAF and 330 million gallons of combined SAF and renewable diesel (RD), mainly from farming waste. A second renewable fuels reactor will allow approximately half of the 300-million-gallon SAF capability to be online by 2026.
Montana Renewables says commissioning and distribution of this product is important because sales of its MaxSAF fuel from the truck rack opens the SAF market beyond major airports.
The company’s capital to finance the expansion was partially tied to a $1.44 billion U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office guarantee which was finalized in the last months of the Biden Administration.
In late January this year, the Trump Administration ordered a delay on the first tranche of that loan guarantee as the president was warning he might cease all renewable energy loans under the DOE program. The uncertainty over those orders threatened a delay for the expansion project which was designed to convert billions of pounds of seed oil annually into SAF and biofuels to decarbonize the aviation and transportation sectors.
The DOE relented one month later and approved $782 million first tranche of the guaranteed loan facility. MRL is a subsidiary of Calumet.
The Trump Administration eventually halted more than $7 billion in previously approved decarbonization projects under the DOE loan program.
