Producers poised to meet SAF demands

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Corn growers are positioned to meet the needs of the sustainable aviation fuel industry, but hurdles remain.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is a new use category that has really exponential opportunity for growth and development, and we are working really hard to position corn as a viable, economic and available feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel,” said Krista Swanson, National Corn Growers Association lead economist.

Swanson said in an Illinois Corn Growers Association video the state has 13 ethanol plants and “already produces a lot of ethanol from corn.”

“Illinois is the second-largest corn producer in the nation. So, Illinois is certainly well positioned to serve the airlines and sustainable aviation fuel in this way,” she said.

The Biden administration set a goal to increase the production of SAF to at least 3 billion gallons per year by 2030.

The goal includes new and ongoing funding opportunities to support sustainable fuel projects and fuel producers totaling up to $4.3 billion.

“To put that 3 billion gallons in perspective from a corn point of view, if we produce corn on the same number of acres as 2023 between now and 2030, just with yield-driving productivity gains that we have seen so far and expect to continue in the future, we could have another billion bushels of corn produced on the same acres that we have been farming,” Swanson said.

“That extra 1 billion bushels of corn translates to more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol to just sustainable aviation fuel, which is huge when we think about the potential for helping meet those targets.”

Decision Delayed

A multistate coalition of biofuel and farm advocates called on President Biden’s Treasury Department to swiftly resolve any questions standing in the way of efforts to scale up U.S. production of SAF.

Specifically, they urged the administration to quickly adopt the U.S. Department of Energy’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Technologies model for the calculation of SAF tax credits (40B) under the Inflation Reduction Act — completing a process that was originally scheduled to conclude by March 1. A decision has yet to be made by the Treasury Department.

“We are disappointed that the administration did not fulfill its commitment to release a modified GREET model by March 1, but we appreciate the importance of getting the modeling right,” wrote 26 organizations across 13 states, including the Renewable Fuels Association, Clean Fuels Alliance America, Growth Energy, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union and the National Oilseed Processors Association.

“At the same time, we caution against contradictory changes to GREET that would stack unwarranted penalties on agricultural feedstocks, cut rural America out of a promising green energy market and undermine any realistic path to achieving U.S. SAF goals.”

SAF advocates emphasized the availability of well-established methodologies for certifying climate-smart agriculture practices, in contrast to speculative and unverifiable penalties for indirect land use change favored by opponents of U.S. agriculture.

Science-Based

“There are challenges, though. First of all, there are funds in the Inflation Reduction Act that go toward supporting development and production of sustainable aviation fuel. But there is certain modeling in order to qualify for those credits, and we’re waiting on guidance from the EPA on what that modeling will be. That is really a huge hurdle,” Swanson said.

“We are advocating for science-based modeling that would allow a pathway for ethanol to be a part of this huge new market.”