Sustainable Jet Fuel Developer Plans Move to North Dakota

(Photo courtesy of Red Trail Energy via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – A sustainable aviation fuel developer plans to shift investment from South Dakota to North Dakota, in part because of delays in the development of the multi-state Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.

Colorado-based Gevo had obtained a $1.46 billion loan through the U.S. Department of Energy to build a jet fuel plant at Lake Preston, South Dakota. Company officials told the North Dakota Monitor on Thursday that it instead will push ahead with making jet fuel at the Richardton, North Dakota, ethanol plant it bought last year. Gevo is working with the Department of Energy to transfer the loan to expand the North Dakota site.

Red Trail Energy at Richardton in 2022 became the first ethanol plant in the country to capture and store carbon dioxide, taking advantage of its location in an area with the right geology for permanent underground storage.

Gevo plans to expand the North Dakota ethanol plant, which turns corn into fuel. It would convert the ethanol into higher-value aviation fuel in a process it calls alcohol to jet. Carbon capture is a key part of making sustainable aviation fuel.