Alaska-based sustainable fuels plant could tap Mat-Su beetle-killed timber, reducing fire hazard

State officials are promoting a plant to make Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF, to supply cargo air carriers operating in and out of Anchorage’s international airport, now the world’s fourth busiest air freight hub.

Cargo carriers mainly on Asia-North America flights use Anchorage as a midway refueling and cargo transfer point. About 900 million gallons of jet fuel are loaded there at Ted Stevens International Airport.

This could be important for Mat-Su communities because beetle-killed timber in the region could be a prime source of feedstock for the fuels plant.

The state of Alaska owns and operates international airports in the state is investigating an SAF fuels plant to meet air carriers’ growing demand for the fuels. Atlas Air, one of the world’s largest air cargo operators, and Alaska Airlines, a major west coast regional airline and also the state’s largest passenger carrier, are supporting the state’s effort to make SAF for blending with conventional jet fuel.

Katherine Keith, deputy commissioner at the state DOTPF who oversees airports, is leading the initial feasibility assessments. The goal is for a plant to produce 150 million gallons per year of sustainable fuel, which is one-sixth of the current jet fuel demand in Anchorage, along with 80 to 95 million gallons of other products including Renewable Diesel and Renewable Naphtha. The plan has the backing of Alaska’s governor, Mike Dunleavy, who has a strong interest in renewable energy.

Keith said six other airlines, mostly cargo operators, have written letters to the state supporting the idea. Initial studies show costs for SAF would be less than what the fuel costs elsewhere because of a huge amount of biomass that is available. Organic material like fish oil or forest biomass could be converted to fuel at costs low enough to offset the capital cost of building an SAF plant, which could range to $1 billion and $3 billion depending on the technology selected, Keith said.

“The international carriers are very interested in this because most of them operate into Europe as well as North America and Asia and being able take on this fuel in Alaska would help them meet European Union rules for carbon reduction in aviation fuel,” Keith said. The EU is requiring that airlines use a 20% blend of sustainable and conventional fuels by 2035 and 42% by 2045.

For Alaska the key advantage is providing the fuel regionally to help “anchor” the international cargo operators that now stop in Alaska. Most large cargo planes are capable of flying trans-Pacific and trans-polar routes nonstop but the economics are still attractive for freight operators to stop in Alaska to refuel mid-way on flights. That’s because carrying less fuel allows for more cargo to be carried, maximizing revenue.

Providing cargo carriers with a cost-effective supply of SAF would give them an incentive to continue refueling stops in Alaska even if technology advances improve the economics of flying nonstop.

At this point the Alaska team working on the initial feasibility are looking at two technology paths, Keith said. One is a Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids, or HEFA, process using organic material like fish oil from Alaska seafood processing plants to produce synthetic kerosene for blending. Plants elsewhere producing renewable aviation and diesel fuels mostly use the HEFA process.

The second approach is a Fischer-Tropsch technology that would rely mainly on the large amount of forest biomass available. Fischer-Tropsch process is used today in South Africa to produce fuel from coal and natural gas and was widely used in Germany during World War II.

But there are still uncertainties. “While the FT process is proven, not many F-T refineries exist globally and not with biomass as a feedstock. That, combined with our plan for carbon sequestration mean that many aspects will be new,” Keith said.

“There is a plant similar in feedstock and scale to ours, scheduled to be operational in 2028 in Louisiana,” she said. DG Fuels’ plant, located in St. James Parish in Louisiana, will have a planned capacity of 13,000 barrels per day of SAF, according to company information.

Keith said Fischer-Tropsch is costly but with the large volumes of forest material available, Fischer-Tropsch could be to be more cost effective than HEFA.

“This was a complete surprise to us because the capital cost would be much higher, but that appears to be offset by the more limited supply of fish oil and the longer transport costs from fish plants compared with the volumes of available wood biomass and the shorter distance from harvest areas,” she said.

Studies also show that Alaska’s fisheries will be able to supply only 9% of a plant’s target output, assuming that only byproducts like fish oil are used. Also, the largest fish processing plants are at a considerable distance from Anchorage. A smaller HEFA plant could still be viable with additional organic feedstock, such municipal waste.

The forest biomass is closer, mostly within 150 miles of Anchorage in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Kenai Peninsula. Estimates are that 46.2 million dry tons of live and dead timber can be reached within one mile of existing roads. For a target output of 150 million gallons a year of SAF about 4.9 million dry tons of forest biomass, or 9.8 million green tons (with higher moisture), would be needed.

The existing fuel infrastructure near Anchorage offers advantages, Keith said. Anchorage’s port has 3.4 million gallons of fuel storage to supply both its airport and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the nearby military installation. If the SAF plant is built at or near an existing Marathon Petroleum refinery on the Kenai Peninsula, it can use a an existing 67-mile liquids pipeline to move the SAF fuel to bulk storage in Anchorage. An alternative plant site at Port MacKenzie, a short distance from Anchorage across Knik Arm of Upper Cook Inlet, could see the SAF fuel barged to storage facilities at Anchorage’s port.

Converting forest biomass meanwhile solves another problem for Alaska because much of it is damaged and dead spruce killed by beetle infestations. This creates a serious fire danger, so removing the damaged timber serves an important public purpose, Keith said.

This could be a double-win for Alaska if the technology and economics work – Alaska gets a reduced wildfire danger along with an anchor for its air carrier refueling industry.