DG Fuels (DGF) has selected Johnson Matthey (JM) and bp for its co-developed hydrogen-based Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS™ technology to be used in a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant.
Projected to be worth $4bn, the Louisiana plant is expected to be the largest deployment of FT CANS to date, producing 600,000Mt of SAF per year once fully operational, making it the “largest announced” production plant using a non-hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) pathway.
The plant, located in St. James Parish, is anticipated to begin production in 2028 and will become a network of more than 10 SAF production plants that DGF is planning across the US, all modelled on the JM and bp Louisiana plant.
The SAF will be produced from waste biomass, with DGF planning to purchase around $120m of sugar cane waste annually. The FT process includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases reacting to produce a range of hydrocarbons. FT CANS converts the synthesis gas to synthetic crude, allowing for the syngas to be produced from biomass, which is then further processed to create synthetic kerosene that can be blended with conventional jet fuel.
JM and bp’s FT CANS tech has previously been seelcted to produce hydrogen-based SAF at EDL Anlagenbau Gesellschaft’s German plant, which is expected to produce 50,000 tonnes per year once fully operational. The first phase is planned to be online by 2027.
Read more: Johnson Matthey and bp tech selected for German SAF plant
“Our FT CANS technology solution brings together decades of science and engineering expertise from bp and JM,” explained Noemie Turner, Vice-President Development & Commercialisation at bp.
“This project shows its competitiveness across the range of production scales and feedstock sources the industry needs.”
Maurits van Tol, Chief Executive for Catalyst Technologies at JM, added, “DG Fuels has ambitious plans, and the fact is had secured agreements with major airlines demonstrates there is appetite for the market.”
Last year (2023), the Air France KLM-Group confirmed it would cooperate with DG Fuels and support the development of its Louisiana plant with an investment of $4.7m. Alongside Airbus, the company plans to make SAF available at scale around the world.
Read more:Air France-KLM invests $4.7m into DG Fuels to support Louisiana SAF facility
The DG Fuels President, Christopher Chaput, said, “With this technology, we will create a product that is responsibly made and can be immediately substituted for conventional aviation fuel with no engine adaptations.”
H2 View understands that Louisiana plant’s production capacity after blending will be equivalent to the fuel required for over 30,000 transatlantic flights annually.
