Air TOTAL International SA and Gevo have entered into a purchase and sale agreement for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—specifically, Alcohol-to-Jet, ATJ—for use and distribution in France and other parts of Europe. The three-year offtake agreement may be extended for an additional four years with the consent of both parties.

With the finalization of this new supply contract, Gevo will initially supply Air Total with ATJ fuel from its demonstration facility in Silsbee, Texas and later from Gevo’s expanded Luverne, Minnesota plant which is expected to be constructed over the next several years.

The Silsbee project can produce up to 50,000 gallons of ATJ per year. Gevo is developing an interim skid-mounted production solution that is expected to be capable of producing up to 500,000 gallons per year of Renewable ATJ, which is to be located in Luverne, Minnesota. Gevo is also developing a new project that is expected to be capable of producing up to 10,000,000 gallons per year of ATJ, also to be located in Luverne.

Air TOTAL specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of jet fuel and aviation gasoline for over 60 years. Air TOTAL supplies the commercial, business and general aviation sectors at more than 300 airports in 72 countries on five continents.

Gevo fractionates grain to produce protein and animal feed while using the residual carbohydrate portion of the grain for fermentation to produce the intermediate chemical isobutanol. The isobutanol is then chemically transformed using a hydrocarbon processing facility into SAF meeting ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons).

The SAF made by this process has very low sulfur, low particulates, and slightly higher energy density than petroleum-based jet fuel.

For every gallon of SAF produced, Gevo also produces approximately 10 pounds of protein that goes into the food supply chain and can sequester up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide as carbon into the soil making it one of the only renewable jet fuels to produce both food and fuel while sequestering carbon dioxide and lowering the GHG emissions as compared to traditional fossil-based jet fuel.