The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced on Wednesday October 16 conditional commitments for up to $2.9 billion in loans for two sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producers.

Government-backed loans are of critical importance for SAF producers, industry participants have recently told Fastmarkets. Private-bank loans require long-term offtake agreements with airlines, but private banks are still hesitant because of the low credit status of many US airlines, sources said.

Gevo’s loan award of $1.46 billion will help finance the company’s planned alcohol-to-jet (AtJ) SAF production facility in Lake Preston, South Dakota. The Lake Preston facility will be integrated, taking in corn starch to convert to ethanol and then into SAF.

Gevo’s facility is expected to produce up to 60 million gallons of SAF per year, as well as 30 million lb of corn oil and 1.3 billion lb per year of animal feed ingredients from the plant’s byproducts.

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