Waste Product Seen As A Renewable Fuel Stock

The Department of Energy is partially funding a project that will allow an Iowa company to start producing jet fuel from poultry fat.  Elevance Renewable Sciences plans build a $15 million addition to its existing biodiesel plant in Newton, Iowa, that will use it along with other feedstocks to produce biofuels.

According to the Associated Press, the facility would use plant oils and poultry fat as the base for a number of products that are now petroleum based, including lubricants, cosmetics, adhesives, and jet fuel.

According to the Department of Agriculture, the poultry industry in the U.S. produces about 1.4 billion pounds of waste fat every year. Elevance says that could be converted into 250 million gallons of a variety of products, including jet fuel and other chemicals that could replace petroleum.

Elevance CEO K'Lynne Johnson said when the plant comes online, about one quarter of the output will come from poultry fat. He said he will let the market and business partners determine how to proceed from there.

While the ATA has been focusing it's efforts on companies that are producing biofuels from plant material, spokesman Quentin Browell said they are not discounting companies that use animal sources. Johnson said he hopes to be talking with airlines in the near future as his company produces enough jet fuel to blend for airline testing.

FMI: www.elevance.com, www.energy.gov