Fulcrum expected to receive USDA loan guarantee

Official word has not yet been issued in Washington, but Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack headed on a plane yesterday afternoon, bound for Nevada to announce a loan guarantee for what he coyly described as a “Nevada company making jet fuel from waste” — and that means Fulcrum Bioenergy.

Whoa Nelly. Didn’t Fulcrum already receive a conditional commitment for a $105 million loan guarantee back in 2012. Yes they did. But in that case, the project aimed to produce 10 million gallons of ethanol annually as well as renewable energy to be used at the plant, utilizing processed municipal solid waste.

Last spring, Fulcrum demonstrated in Durham, North Carolina a process for conversion of municipal solid waste – household garbage – into jet and diesel fuels, using a process licensed in part from TRI.

At the time, Fulcrum also announced that it has been awarded a $4.7 million grant by the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) to begin engineering and development on a plant to produce jet fuel. Fulcrum will match this DoD grant with $4.7 million of its own capital to provide funding to complete the engineering and development of Fulcrum’s first MSW to jet fuel plant. The plant will produce jet fuel, the company said, at a lower cost to the military, and with lower carbon emissions than petroleum jet fuel.

Then, last month, we heard that Cathay Pacific Airways announced a strategic investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy, and negotiated a long-term supply agreement with Fulcrum for an initial 375 million US gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over 10 years (representing on an annual basis approximately 2% of the airline’s current fuel consumption) that meets all the airline’s technical requirements and specifications.

Fulcrum said last month that it plans to commence construction of its first commercial plant later this year and to build large scale, waste-to-renewable jet fuel plants at multiple locations, including locations strategic to the Cathay Pacific network, primarily in North America.

More on the Cathay story here.