Green Plains Inc., Tallgrass, and PNNL get DOE funding for SAF development

In Nebraska, Green Plains Inc., Tallgrass, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to advance sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology as part of the federal agency’s effort to support the development of valuable biofuels and bioproducts for the clean energy economy.

The DOE award will support Green Plains and Tallgrass in funding the demonstration of an innovative process developed by PNNL to convert ethanol to SAF via ketone intermediates, a critical step in proving the scalability of the technology. Green Plains and Tallgrass currently hold the option to exclusively license the PNNL SAF technology globally. They will jointly pursue the production of SAF from cellulosic and corn ethanol and intend to commercialize PNNL’s production process upon successful completion of the pilot project.