Gevo, an advanced biofuels company based in Colorado, has licensed two patented catalyst technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for use in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
"This partnership will streamline the transition of ORNL's catalyst technologies from lab scale to pilot-scale reactors," said Andrew Sutton, senior scientist in the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL. "By demonstrating industrial viability, our goal is to accelerate the commercialization of this technology in the U.S., boosting global competitiveness and domestic production of aviation fuel."
SAF is an alternative fuel made from plant- or waste-based feedstocks. The International Air Transport Association, representing more than 80% of global air traffic, is interested in SAF. Many air carriers have agreed to buy the fuel at scale, but production efficiencies remain an issue.
To meet the challenge, researchers at ORNL developed catalysts that enable a single-step conversion of ethanol to olefins (ETO), which can then be used to produce SAF. A catalyst accelerates chemical reactions and enhances the efficiency of the fuel production process.
In addition to SAF, olefins serve as key building blocks for a wide range of products, including plastics, solvents and surfactants. The global plastics market is poised for continued growth, with forecasts predicting a market worth more than $1.3 trillion by 2033.
Ethanol, commonly derived from agricultural or cellulosic feedstocks, often serves as the basis for SAF production through its conversion to olefins - key intermediates that simplify and reduce the cost of large-scale fuel manufacturing. Building on this foundation, ORNL's novel conversion process not only achieves high carbon efficiency but does so at equal or lower cost compared with conventional methods.
Through the DOE Technology Commercialization Fund, the partnership was awarded support for a three-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to advance this technology for pilot-scale operation and industrial commercialization. Gevo will guide the overall process model and provide industry know-how for successful implementation in the company's pilot reactor.
"Gevo's collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory focuses on evaluating a novel catalytic process that converts ethanol into valuable fuel precursors and alternative chemicals like butadiene," said Andrew Ingram, Gevo's director of process chemistry and catalysis. "This work complements our broader ethanol conversion portfolio but is distinct from both our commercial deployment of Axens' alcohol-to-jet process and our next-generation ETO platform. If the economics prove out, this pathway could provide a flexible, cost-effective option to scale U.S. bio-based solutions, driven by American innovation that creates new markets and demand for farmers producing feedstocks for energy and materials."
ORNL provides extensive scale-up expertise, employing advanced characterization capabilities at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences , which was used to provide deeper insight into catalytic processes in larger chemical reactors.
Under the CRADA, ORNL will develop catalyst pellets and test their performance in an advanced chemical reactor. Researchers will develop a computational model based on the testing data generated that can accurately predict how the process will behave at scale to clear the way for industrial use.
Global demand for jet fuel is expected to increase from 106 billion gallons in 2019 to 230 billion gallons by 2050. Expanding SAF use could help the aviation industry meet this demand while advancing U.S. energy independence and security.
This project was supported by DOE's Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office, formerly known as the Bioenergy Technologies Office, through the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy (ChemCatBio), a multi-laboratory consortium focused on accelerating the development of catalytic technologies that convert biomass and waste resources into bio-based fuels and chemicals. Initial program funding was provided by ORNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development and Technology Innovation programs.
In addition to Sutton, Stephen Purdy, Meijun Li, Michael Cordon and Hunter Jacobs are currently contributing to the CRADA project. Inventors of the patented technologies include ORNL's Li and Brian Davison, former ORNL researcher Zhenglong Li and the University of Maryland's Junyan Zhang. Jennifer Caldwell within Technology Transfer at ORNL negotiated the terms of the licensing agreement. Browse available chemical technologies for licensing .
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit https://energy.gov/science . - Tina M. Johnson
