ADM, Gevo Sign MoU to Produce up to 500M Gallons of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

October 25, 2021

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(Gevo) ADM (NYSE: ADM), a global leader in nutrition and agricultural origination and processing, and Gevo, Inc., (NASDAQ: GEVO), a pioneer in transforming renewable energy into low carbon, energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons, announced today that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other low carbon-footprint hydrocarbon fuels.

The MoU contemplates the production of both ethanol and isobutanol that would then be transformed into renewable low carbon-footprint hydrocarbons, including SAF, using Gevo’s processing technology and capabilities. About 900 million gallons of ethanol produced at ADM’s dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as well as its Decatur, Illinois, complex, is expected to be processed utilizing this technology, resulting in approximately 500 million gallons of SAF and other renewable hydrocarbons. The isobutanol is expected to be produced at a proposed new facility in Decatur that would employ ADM’s carbon capture and sequestration capabilities.

“The potential conversion of 900 million gallons of ethanol – more than half of our production capacity – to serve growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel would represent a major step in the continued evolution of our Carbohydrate Solutions business to focus increasingly on new, high-growth opportunities,” said ADM Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano. “Carbohydrate Solutions is unlocking new value and meeting customer needs through the growth of our BioSolutions platform, with agreements like our LG Chem MoU; sustainable solutions supported by our carbon capture capabilities, like our net-zero carbon milling footprint in the U.S.; and the completion of our dry mill review, with the sale of our Peoria facility and this exciting collaboration with Gevo. Equally important, we’re continuing to live our purpose, with our entry into SAF representing another step in our strategic efforts to advance decarbonization and use our integrated value chain to deliver more sustainable, environmentally friendly products and services.”

“Our potential customer contract pipeline has grown to over 1 billion gallons,” said Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber, Ph.D. “By working with ADM, who already has committed to reducing their carbon footprint, we have the opportunity to accelerate scale. The technology to convert low carbon ethanol and isobutanol into SAF by Gevo is well developed and ready for world scale-commercialization. We look forward to working with ADM in the pursuit of Net-Zero fuels.”

Demand for SAF is expected to increase as major U.S. airlines, airports, shippers and the U.S. government have agreed to work together to advance the use of cleaner sustainable fuels. The U.S. and the EU have set goals that together would support almost 4 billion gallons of annual SAF production in 2030, and more than 45 billion by 2050.

The companies intend to work together to determine full commercialization plans and enter into definitive agreements enabling a timeline such that production of SAF can begin in the 2025-2026 timeframe.

About ADM

At ADM, we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide. With industry-advancing innovations, a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, and a commitment to sustainability, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow. We’re a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. Our breadth, depth, insights, facilities and logistical expertise give us unparalleled capabilities to meet needs for food, beverages, health and wellness, and more. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we enrich the quality of life the world over. Learn more at www.adm.com.

About Gevo

Gevo’s mission is to transform renewable energy and carbon into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons. These liquid hydrocarbons can be used for drop-in transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel, that when burned have potential to yield net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when measured across the full life cycle of the products. Gevo uses low-carbon renewable resource-based carbohydrates as raw materials, and is in an advanced state of developing renewable electricity and renewable natural gas for use in production processes, resulting in low-carbon fuels with substantially reduced carbon intensity (the level of greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard petroleum fossil-based fuels across their life cycle). Gevo also plans to take advantage of decarbonization via geological sequestration in the future. Gevo’s products perform as well or better than traditional fossil-based fuels in infrastructure and engines, but with substantially reduced greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to addressing the problems of fuels, Gevo’s technology also enables certain plastics, such as polyester, to be made with more sustainable ingredients. Gevo’s ability to penetrate the growing low-carbon fuels market depends on the price of oil and the value of abating carbon emissions that would otherwise increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Gevo believes that its proven, patented technology enabling the use of a variety of low-carbon sustainable feedstocks to produce price-competitive low-carbon products such as gasoline components, jet fuel and diesel fuel yields the potential to generate project and corporate returns that justify the build-out of a multi-billion-dollar business.

Gevo believes that the Argonne National Laboratory GREET model is the best available standard of scientific-based measurement for life cycle inventory or LCI.

Learn more at Gevo’s website: www.gevo.com READ MORE

ADM, Gevo Agree to Produce up to 500M Gallons of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Environment + Energy Leader)

ADM, Gevo sign MOU to produce up to 500M gallons of SAF (Biomass Magazine)

ADM Enters Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Archer Daniels Midland to Use More Than Half of Its Ethanol Production for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (DTN Progressive Farmer)

ADM Bets Big on Clean Jet Fuel as Airlines Aim to Cut Emissions (Bloomberg)

Cedar Rapids ethanol plant could be one of three ADM taps to make sustainable aviation fuel (Hawk Eye/Des Moines Register)

ADM discusses planned changes to ethanol business (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Gevo to convert fuel ethanol from ADM to jet fuel (Chemical & Engineering News)

Colorado biofuel company gets into ethanol-based jet fuel with ADM (Denver Business Journal)

Gevo to convert fuel ethanol from ADM to jet fuel (Chemical & Engineering News)

Excerpt from DTN Progressive Farmer: Archer Daniels Midland is expected to use more than half of its ethanol-production capacity to produce sustainable aviation fuels as part of an agreement made with Gevo, the companies announced in a news release on Monday.

As part of a memorandum of understanding, the companies expect to produce up to 500 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel at ADM plants. ADM expects to install Gevo technology on dry mill ethanol plants in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Decatur, Illinois. The plants have a combined production capacity of about 900 million gallons of ethanol.

ADM operates seven ethanol plants in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, with a total production capacity of about 1.6 billion gallons.

Sustainable aviation fuel production is a growing market for corn producers. The companies said they plan to launch commercial production of sustainable aviation fuel in the 2025-2026 timeframe.

In September, USDA joined a government-wide sustainable aviation fuels challenge to meet 100% of U.S. aviation fuel demand by 2050.

The initiative was announced during a White House roundtable with U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. READ MORE

Excerpt from Bloomberg: Meanwhile, demand for sustainable jet fuel is expected to boom in the coming years as the aviation industry, a major source of pollution, tries to reduce carbon emissions. Airlines are also under pressure to make quick progress toward lower emissions even though breakthrough technology like hydrogen-powered planes is years away. The alternatives are limited: sustainable aviation fuel is expensive and scarce, and purchasing carbon offsets has been criticized as ineffective.

ADM has been pivoting away from ethanol, whose profitability is dependent on U.S. blending mandates. The company sold an Illinois ethanol plant last week. Demand for sustainable jet fuel is likely to jump to 3.6 billion gallons annually by 2030, or 3% of global jet fuel, up from less than 0.1% in 2019, according to a BloombergNEF report. Policy initiatives could push that statistic to 5.6% in a decade, the report said.

Shares for Gevo rose as much as 12% to $7.295 on Monday. READ MORE