NREL’s DMR process key to SAFFiRE Renewables’ pilot project

In Colorado, on its path to opening a facility designed to turn agriculture residue into a scalable biofuel business, SAFFiRE Renewables, LLC plans to break ground on its pilot plant near Liberal, Kansas, in late 2024.

In 2023, the company negotiated a license agreement for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) deacetylation and mechanical refining (DMR) process, a technology seen as important for sidestepping challenges with cellulosic biofuel facilities in the past. DMR uses a “gentle” alkaline bath and a mechanical shredder to prepare corn stover for ethanol fermentation—essential steps for accessing the energy-dense sugars locked inside.

Ultimately, ethanol made at the plant, which will be operated by Conestoga Energy, can be upgraded into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet technology. Estimates suggest the resulting SAF will have a carbon footprint at least 83% lower than conventional jet fuel.