Fulcrum Saves Christmas: MSW-to-Fuels Production Begins at Sierra Biofuels

December 21, 2022

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From Nevada comes the long-awaited news that Fulcrum BioEnergy has successfully produced a low-carbon synthetic crude oil using landfill waste as a feedstock at its commercial-scale Sierra BioFuels Plant. Sierra is the first and at present the largest landfill waste-to-fuels plant.

Whew. They made it by Christmas. In fact, they saved Christmas, for so many who have so hoped for so long.

In the dog days of summer, the voices of doubt were whispering. In July 2021, the plant was completed, mechanically. In May, the company had commenced syngas production, but no one by October had not yet heard that the intrepid Fulcrumites had reached the summit of their Everest, which was the commencement of fuel production at their Sierra Biofuels project near Reno, Nevada.

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By producing a synthetic crude oil product, which can then be further refined into sustainable aviation fuel, Fulcrum has demonstrated its process and is preparing to supply its strategic partners with SAF that it expects will be net-zero carbon. To that end, Fulcrum has entered into strategic partnerships with major airlines and other offtake partners to purchase its renewable fuel.

What’s next?

Yes, they have made renewable fuel, it’s a tremendous milestone. Now come the hardest yards of commercialization, optimizing the rate and yield so that the company may continue to make renewable fuel, because it is profitable to do so. The work starts now.

Good news on the financing front, however. A year ago Fulcrum announced the completion of an interim financing to fund Fulcrum’s second waste-to-fuels project, culminating in the issuance by the Indiana Finance Authority of $375 million of Environmental Improvement Revenue Bonds through Fulcrum’s wholly owned subsidiary Fulcrum Centerpoint, LLC (Centerpoint). Proceeds from the offering will be held in escrow with the Bonds subject to a mandatory tender for purchase on November 15, 2022. Fulcrum expects to refinance the bonds on or before November 15, 2022. The transaction was led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC.

And then there’s the third plant, think UK.

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The bio-refinery will convert several hundred thousand tonnes of pre-processed waste, which would have otherwise been destined for incineration or landfill, into approximately 100 million liters of low carbon SAF annually.

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One sign that things were proceeding, if not as fast as hoped, was the continued investment from SK Innovation. READ MORE

Fulcrum BioEnergy Successfully Produces First Ever Low-Carbon Fuel from Landfill Waste at its Sierra BioFuels Plant (Fulcrum BioEnergy/PR Newswire)

Fulcrum Bioenergy produces first biofuel at Sierra Biofuels plant (Biomass Magazine)

FT CANS™ technology by Johnson Matthey, BP enabled Fulcrum’s recent production milestone (Biobased Diesel Daily/Johnson Mattey)

Jet2 plc invests in Fulcrum NorthPoint SAF project in North West England (Jet2/Biobased Diesel Daily)

Leisure group Jet2 takes equity stake in Fulcrum’s new UK SAF plant and agrees 200m litre offtake (GreenAir Online)

Excerpt from Fulcrum BioEnergy/PR Newswire: Commercial-scale breakthrough changes the way the world will look at trash and paves the way to making meaningful contributions to addressing climate change; Landmark achievement expected to spur global development of waste-to-fuels plants aimed at producing 400 million gallons of SAF annually to help decarbonize aviation industry

Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., a clean energy company pioneering the creation of renewable, drop-in transportation fuels from landfill waste, today announced that it has successfully produced a low-carbon synthetic crude oil using landfill waste as a feedstock at its Sierra BioFuels Plant, the world's first commercial-scale landfill waste-to-fuels plant. This significant achievement positions Fulcrum as a renewable fuels leader producing and selling net-zero carbon fuel and addresses climate change by supporting the aviation industry's goals to reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.

"This accomplishment is a watershed moment for Fulcrum and opens the door for our plans to transform landfill waste around the world into a low-carbon transportation fuel in a way that will have a profound environmental impact," said Eric Pryor, Fulcrum's President and Chief Executive Officer. "After more than a decade of dedication and perseverance, successfully creating a low-carbon fuel entirely from landfill waste validates the strength of our process and our partners' unwavering belief in and support for our business model. As we continue to work to address global environmental challenges and advance our development program, we aim to replicate our success at Sierra with cost-efficient net-zero carbon plants nationally and ultimately around the globe."

An Accomplishment for The Broader Industry and World

This milestone comes as the world has convened on emissions reductions goals, the Biden Administration has prioritized the development of lower-carbon transportation methods and the aviation industry has set its sights on net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Fulcrum is committed to supporting these objectives and has entered into strategic partnerships with major airlines and other offtake partners to purchase its renewable fuel. By producing a synthetic crude oil product, which can then be further refined into sustainable aviation fuel ("SAF"), Fulcrum has demonstrated its process and is preparing to supply its strategic partners with SAF that it expects will be net-zero carbon when compared on a lifecycle basis to traditional petroleum-based jet fuel.

"This is a significant accomplishment for Fulcrum and the aviation industry," said United Airlines Ventures Managing Director Andrew Chang. "United has led with bold action to fight climate change, including committing to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 without relying on traditional carbon offsets, and investing in more sustainable fuel production than any other airline globally. We look forward to advancing our collaboration with Fulcrum to increase the supply of sustainable aviation fuel."

With the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA"), the U.S. government has made clear its newfound support for the domestic growth of SAF as a clean alternative to standard fuel. "We applaud the passage of the IRA, which will foster industry growth and innovation to supply SAF. We're thrilled to contribute to the White House's Grand Challenge of producing at least three billion gallons of SAF by 2030," added Pryor.

Fulcrum's Cutting Edge, Unique Process and Unparalleled Facilities

Fulcrum has spent more than a decade and significant capital developing an innovative process for transforming a true waste product into a valuable low-carbon transportation fuel for the aviation industry. Fulcrum expects to utilize a standardized, scalable, low-cost approach for larger future projects replicating the successful process at Sierra, which is backed by patents and capitalizes on the intellectual property developed by the Company in its engineering and start-up operations of this first-of-its-kind plant.

"Fulcrum has successfully demonstrated a groundbreaking technological achievement that will have far-reaching implications for clean energy around the globe. We are proud to not only be an investor but also a strategic partner as we explore bringing Fulcrum's patented and proprietary waste-to-fuel process to the APAC region together," said Dongsoo Kang, head of SK Innovation's portfolio division.

"This is a tremendous and exciting accomplishment for Fulcrum and is also very important for Cathay to reach its commitment for using 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. As Fulcrum's first airline investor and fuel offtake partner, we look forward to using SAF produced by Fulcrum very soon. We are confident that this milestone will help open up more SAF production capacity in Asia and around the world," said Grace Cheung, Group Head of Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility at Cathay Pacific Airways.

The Company has identified and is making progress on its planned growth program, which Fulcrum expects will have the capacity to produce approximately 400 million gallons of net-zero carbon transportation fuel annually. The Company's development program includes the Centerpoint BioFuels Plant in Gary, Indiana, the Trinity Fuels Plant in the Texas Gulf Coast region and the NorthPoint project in the United Kingdom.

About Fulcrum

Based in Pleasanton, California, Fulcrum is leading the development of a reliable and efficient process for transforming waste into net-zero carbon transportation fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel and diesel. The Company's innovative process, which utilizes landfill waste as a feedstock, is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 100% compared to traditional fuel production, contributing to the aviation industry's carbon reduction goals.

Beginning with the Sierra BioFuels Plant, Fulcrum's plants will provide customers with low-carbon transportation fuel that is competitively priced with traditional petroleum fuel. The Company is advancing on its large commercial growth program of net-zero carbon waste-to-fuels plants across North America and in select international markets with a planned production capacity of approximately 400 million gallons per year. Fulcrum, a privately held company, has aligned itself and entered into strategic relationships with industry leaders in the waste, aviation and energy sectors to further strengthen and accelerate the Company's patented and proprietary approach to commercially producing large volumes of renewable fuel from landfill waste. For more information, please visit www.fulcrum-bioenergy.com. READ MORE

Excerpt from Biomass Magazine: The Company has identified and is making progress on its planned growth program, which Fulcrum expects will have the capacity to produce approximately 400 million gallons of net-zero carbon transportation fuel annually. The Company’s development program includes the Centerpoint BioFuels Plant in Gary, Indiana, the Trinity Fuels Plant in the Texas Gulf Coast region and the NorthPoint project in the United Kingdom. READ MORE