SAF in the Big Sky State

April 12, 2023

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by Susanne Retka Schill (SAF Magazine) Calumet’s Montana Renewables has set sights on optimizing renewable jet output to be North America’s largest producer. -- As of late February, Montana Renewables LLC claims the distinction of being the largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer on the continent, and expects to maintain that status when a planned expansion is completed next year. “We’re a couple weeks away from being North America’s largest SAF producer, and nobody knows it,” Bruce Fleming, executive vice president, tells SAF Magazine in late January. “We’re an operating company of engineers. We have our heads down, thinking about equipment all the time. And we didn’t tell our story.”

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Montana Renewables’ facility in Great Falls, Montana, is on the site of a 100-year-old refinery acquired in 2012 by parent company Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP. In early 2021, Calumet announced plans to reconfigure the oversized hydro cracker built in 2016 to process 10,000 to 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) of renewable feedstock into renewable diesel.Things moved quickly, and by fall, financing closed, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held and an air permit approved. In November, Calumet announced the creation of Montana Renewables as a wholly owned, “unrestricted pure-play renewables subsidiary.” A few months later, in next quarter’s earnings call, Calumet announced off-take contracts had been executed with three primary customers, including Phillips 66 and Chevron Renewable Energy Group, plus feedstock purchasing was progressing better than expected.

Montana Renewables’ retrofitted process came online at half capacity in December, starting up on tallow to produce renewable diesel. Full capacity was reached by the end of Q1 after the sequential commissioning of renewable hydrogen, SAF and feedstock pretreatment systems. “We’re advertising 12,000 bpd of renewable feedstock,” Fleming says. “That’s about 180 million gallons per year. Of that total, most is renewable diesel. The SAF portion that we sold is 30 million gallons per year.”

Engineering and procurement is underway for a 2024 expansion to process 20,000 bpd, with the ability to flex between all renewable diesel or all SAF, he continues. “There’s a huge, backed-up demand for SAF. We have the capability to offer SAF at a price parity with renewable diesel, which those with older generation technology can’t. They need a premium for SAF or they are not going to make any.”

Montana Renewable’s cost advantage is partly due to its decision to deploy the latest technology from Haldor Topsoe in its renewable diesel retrofit. “The new catalyst system has better yield performance, and it’s now economic to make SAF when it didn’t used to be,” Fleming says.

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The Topsoe process also utilizes catalysts for the hydrogenation process to remove oxygen from the triglycerides as water, unlike the more common decarboxylation process that removes oxygen as CO2. Not only does that keep the carbon in the fuel fraction, thus increasing yields, but it eliminates the need for an amine tower to scrub the CO2, thus lowering energy consumption.

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Logistics Advantages
Based in Great Falls (population 60,000) in central Montana, just 100 miles south of the Canadian border, Montana Renewable’s location is a strategic advantage for two reasons. One, being located on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe main line gives access to cities with major airports, including several in West Coast low-carbon fuel markets. Reason two is that roughly 2 million acres of canola are grown in the northern tier counties of Washington, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, with 10 times that grown in Canada’s prairie provinces. Long approved as a biodiesel feedstock, the canola pathway for renewable diesel and SAF received EPA approval in December.

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“The second you start paying farmers for something they were going to plow under in the spring, it’ll come into commerce,” he says, adding that one of the camelina developers is headquartered in Great Falls. Montana Renewables also has set aside land, working to attract an oilseed crusher to the site.

Another carbon reduction strategy deployed by Montana Renewables is eliminating natural gas in its process, Fleming adds. Catalysts aren’t perfect, he explains, converting roughly 95% of the feedstock into SAF, renewable diesel and renewable naphtha with the remaining byproducts consisting of renewable natural gas, propane and offgases. “We’re using the byproducts in a closed loop in our process, coming back to hydrogen production,” he explains. Next up is to figure out how to get credit for the plant’s electrical feed coming from hydroelectric dams, rather than using the average fuel mix.

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“Every LCFS geography wrote its own rule. California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia rules are all incrementally different. The Canadian federal rule will be different yet.”

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“The customer takes the environmental attributes,” he adds. “What they do with that is their business. They’re going to claim they reduced X amount of tons of CO2, but X depends on which rule.” READ MORE

Biodiesel and SAF Magazine's Podcast Montana Renewables: From Oil Refinery to SAF (Biodiesel Magazine; includes AUDIO)

Montana Renewables achieves design throughput capacity for biobased diesel production in Great Falls (Biobased Diesel Daily)

Montana Renewables completes start-up of SAF, feedstock-pretreatment units (Biobased Diesel Daily/Calumet Specialty Products Partners)

Montana Renewables Begins Sustainable Aviation Fuel Deliveries to Shell (Calumet Specialty Products Partners)

Big SAF in Big Sky Country: Montana Renewables begins SAF deliveries to Shell (Biofuels Digest)

Technology spotlight: Topsoe’s HydroFlex™ helps Calumet become North America’s largest SAF producer (Topsoe/Biobased Diesel Daily)

CALUMET IS NOW THE LARGEST PRODUCER OF SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL IN NORTH AMERICA. TOPSOE DELIVERS TECHNOLOGY (Topsoe)

Excerpt from Calumet Specialty Products Partners: Onward deliveries to JetBlue, Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines;
Celebration Ceremony Today (May 10, 2023) as Governor Gianforte honors Montana Renewables as North America's Largest Sustainable Aviation Fuel Producer -- Montana Renewables, LLC (MRL) hosted key aviation stakeholders, including Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, to celebrate the first production and initial shipments of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) under a multi-year agreement with Shell Trading (US) Company ("Shell"). The start of production makes Montana Renewables the largest SAF producer in North America.

"Montana Renewables is a great example of what's possible when there aren't sideboards placed on innovation," Gianforte said. "The result is a healthier environment, a stronger economy, and more jobs. We'll continue to champion pro-jobs, pro-business policies to support cutting-edge, job-creating businesses like Calumet."

"We're proud to collaborate with Shell to improve aviation sustainability," said Bruce Fleming, CEO Montana Renewables. "Strong support from the State of Montana, Cascade County, and the City of Great Falls made possible the unique speed of Montana Renewables, and Shell is the logical offtake partner for us to reach multiple airlines and airports from our geographically advantaged site. We are now producing more SAF than any other North American company on top of our renewable diesel and renewable hydrogen."

Shell and its affiliates are expanding and building supply chain capabilities to blend and distribute SAF throughout the US to enable more customers with access to the fuel, helping to accelerate the pace of decarbonizing the aviation sector.

"We're excited to be working with Montana Renewables to bring together the right mix of technical expertise and operational capabilities to help increase access to SAF production in the US for our customers, including Delta, Alaska and JetBlue, to power progress in aviation," said Christine Bassitt, General Manager of Shell Aviation Americas.

In April, Delta announced an agreement to purchase 10 million gallons of neat SAF from Shell. "This is a great example of the kind of action and investment needed in states across our country that we need to meet our aggressive SAF goals as an industry," said Pam Fletcher, Chief Sustainability Officer – Delta Air Lines. "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."

About Montana Renewables, LLC

Montana Renewables, LLC is an unrestricted subsidiary of Calumet located in Great Falls, MT. Montana Renewables is permitted for 15,000 barrels per stream day ("bpsd") of renewable feedstocks which are converted into low-emission sustainable alternatives that directly replace fossil fuel products. The renewable fuels plant began operations in late 2022. As the world recognizes a sustainability responsibility, MRL is making immediate carbon reductions and stands ready to grow and innovate further. This business is a leader in North America's energy transition, with our renewable products being delivered to Canada and the United States West Coast. READ MORE

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