Fulcrum Bioenergy partners with United Airlines

United Airlines has invested $30 million (€27 million) in Fulcrum Bioenergy and will have the option to directly participate in Fulcrum's waste-to-jet fuel plants across North America.

United will also have the opportunity to purchase 90 million gallons per year of Fulcrum's cost-competitive, sustainable jet fuel under long-term offtake agreements, subject to availability.

'This is a major advancement of Fulcrum's programme to provide large volumes of commercial and military spec fuel at competitive pricing to the industry. This strategic partnership with United accelerates our whole programme,' says E. James Macias, Fulcrum's president and CEO.

'We have created a business that will compete directly with fossil fuel on the basis of cost and sustainability. Since our inception, Fulcrum has developed a robust operating platform and business plan that brings in large industry leaders to create value throughout the waste to fuels process. We have combined the best team in biofuels with two of the largest waste services companies, two major airlines, the US Air Force, the US Navy, the USDA, the best technology providers and a premier contractor to build out our program,' Macias adds.

Fulcrum has partnered and entered into agreements with two of the nation's largest waste services providers, a subsidiary of Waste Management and Waste Connections, to secure large volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) under long-term contracts. The Waste Management subsidiary will provide the majority of the volume for the Sierra BioFuels Plant near Reno, Nevada, and Waste Connections will provide the balance under a separate long-term MSW supply agreement.

In May 2015, Fulcrum announced it had executed a $200 million fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Abengoa for the construction of the Sierra BioFuels Plant.

Abengoa will be responsible for the construction of the Sierra biorefinery and will provide Fulcrum with guarantees on the cost, schedule, start-up and performance of the Sierra plant. This EPC approach will be the standard for every project in Fulcrum's growth programme.

In August 2014, Fulcrum announced a strategic partnership with Cathay Pacific Airways, Fulcrum's first with an airline. This partnership included an equity investment and a 10-year fuel offtake agreement. Fulcrum was awarded grants by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and a loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the expectation that Fulcrum will be a future supplier of renewable transportation fuels to the military.

The combined alliances with United, Cathay Pacific, the DoD and the USDA provide Fulcrum with a long-term pathway for delivering low-carbon transportation fuel to the airline industry, the US Navy and the US Air Force.

The Sierra BioFuels Plant is Fulcrum's first commercial scale plant. Located approximately 20 miles east of Reno, it will convert more than 180,000 tonnes of prepared MSW feedstock into approximately 12 million gallons per year of renewable syncrude that will be further refined into low carbon transportation fuel.

Permitting, front-end engineering and site preparation activities for the Sierra plant have been completed and construction activities will begin later this year with production beginning in 2017.