Three years from now, passengers may zip around the continent on airplanes propelled by renewable jet fuel from Kansas.
The key to producing this up-and-coming fuel? Soybeans.
A Canadian company aims to build the state’s first refinery that churns out sustainable aviation fuel. And it hopes to pipe the emissions from the southeast Kansas factory to a carbon sequestration site for storage deep underground.
Azure Sustainable Fuels Corp. proposes to build its jet fuel plant next door to a potential steady supply of the goods it needs: a newly built, giant soybean-crushing facility near Cherryvale that will kick into gear this year.
The jet fuel plant would begin supplying the aviation industry by 2027.
But the facility and its related infrastructure — an investment expected to total more than $900 million in rural Montgomery County — isn’t a done deal.
Azure is raising investor dollars, completing the engineering work and seeking regulatory approvals, a company spokesperson said. The company expects to make its final investment decision about a year from now. It is also pursuing potential sites in Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia.
Last month, Azure secured tax incentives from Montgomery County.
The Montgomery County Chronicle, which first reported the story, wrote that county commissioners approved a package that means Azure wouldn’t have to pay local property taxes for a decade, nor sales tax on construction materials and labor.
The project would bring about 1,500 temporary jobs to the county for the construction phase, Azure said, and about 150 long-term, full-time positions.
“We believe that our project would help to enhance Kansas' rich aviation history,” Azure CEO Douglas Cole said in a news release.
Kansas exports more than $2 billion in aerospace products annually. The Kansas Department of Commerce says this makes up nearly one-fifth of the state’s annual exports. Major manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems is based in Wichita. Textron Aviation, which makes Cessna and Beech planes, also operates in the city.
Kansas is also one of the top 10 producers of soybeans in the U.S. So is neighboring Missouri.
That would cut aviation emissions by 1 million tons per year, the company calculates. As a comparison, it said this is equivalent to the emissions generated by 200,000 cars.
The company has a goal of further minimizing the emissions involved in producing its fuel. It is collaborating with a Texas company to explore the possibility of sequestering carbon dioxide emitted at the Azure plant during fuel production.
The Kansas News Service contacted CapturePoint Solutions seeking more details, but the company could not be reached for comment.
CapturePoint’s website says it is working to create carbon dioxide injection wells in Kansas and five other states to store emissions in deep rock formations.
Carbon sequestration is a young industry gaining support from governments around the globe eager to deal with emissions.
More than 40 storage projects have begun operation globally, Reuters reported late last year. Stateside, it wrote, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on more than 20 sequestration projects and is considering dozens more.
The federal government is subsidizing the development of carbon capture projects with tax credits and grants.
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Photo Credit: istock-oticki
Categories: Kansas, Crops, Soybeans, Sustainable Agriculture