Georgia Is Becoming a Biofuel Leader

by Mary Ann DeMuth (Georgia Trend) ... In less than a year, the new LanzaTech Freedom Pines Biorefinery in Soperton will begin to produce billions of gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually.

Illinois-based LanzaTech has developed a process that creates energy sources by employing naturally occurring bacteria to eat pollution. The Freedom Pines Biorefinery will convert methane gas or landfill off-gas to SAF through a fermentation process similar to the way brewers make alcohol by using yeast and sugar.

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has awarded the biotech company nearly $4 million to make SAF at the facility.

About an hour and a half southeast of the LanzaTech plant in Treutlen County, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. has been using SAF to power its business jets. Earlier this month, the manufacturer’s G700 – the largest aircraft in its fleet – set international speed records in flights that used SAF. The plane flew from Savannah to Doha, Qatar, and then from Doha to Paris.

And based on the record-setting speed of Gulfstream’s G500 in flights from Savannah to San Francisco and back, the National Aeronautic Association awarded the company a Sustainable Wings certification. Gulfstream is the first company to earn the certification, which recognizes records set using SAF. READ MORE