Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P.'s Montana Renewables subsidiary has successfully produced and shipped its first batch of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from its biorefinery in Great Falls, Montana. The milestone comes after the facility reported the generation of a full month of on-spec renewable diesel and the commencement of rail shipments of the product in December 2022.
The biorefinery has a current production capacity of 12,000 barrels per day, with the renewable hydrogen plant commissioned in the first quarter of 2023, along with the feedstock pretreatment and SAF units which were brought online in April. According to Calumet CEO Todd Borgmann, the facility's renewable hydrogen, pretreatment and SAF systems have doubled its renewables capacity from the earlier reported 6,000 barrels per day.
Calumet is also considering a pivot to “max SAF,” which would expand total renewables capacity to 18,000 barrels per day, including 15,000 barrels per day of SAF. The company has already purchased the reactor required to implement the expansion, ensuring quick movement if it decides to move forward or brings in a partner to progress the project expeditiously.
The initial SAF produced by Montana Renewables is being supplied to Shell Trading (US) Co. under a multi-year agreement. Calumet is proud to produce more SAF than any other North American company, according to Bruce Fleming, CEO of Montana Renewables. Christine Bassitt, General Manager of Shell Aviation Americas, expressed Shell's excitement to work with Montana Renewables to increase access to SAF production for their customers, including Delta, Alaska, and JetBlue.
In April, Delta announced its agreement to purchase 10 million gallons of neat SAF from Shell. “There's not enough SAF being produced today to power the world's commercial airlines for a single day, so we're grateful to everyone at the State of Montana, Montana Renewables, and Shell for providing the incentives and taking meaningful steps toward scaling production of this largest known lever we have for decarbonizing aviation,” said Pam Fletcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Delta Air Lines.
