Sustainable fuel technology developer LanzaJet will partner with Marquis Sustainable Fuel to establish an integrated fuel plant with a capacity of 120 million gallons a year. The MoU announced Thursday between the Illinois-based companies would see the facility—which will use LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel process—constructed on a 2,500-acre industrial site in Hennepin, Illinois, two hours southwest of Chicago.
With the site providing access to highways, a rail line, and the Illinois River, not to mention the proximity to deliver sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to Chicago O’Hare International and Chicago Midway International airports by pipeline, it offers strong strategic distribution potential. Marquis recently announced plans for the complex to be carbon neutral, with access onsite to carbon sequestration. The companies are conducting engineering and feasibility studies to determine the cost of the plant, which would be the second to use LanzaJet’s ATJ process, following a facility in Georgia that is expected to be completed by year-end. Current plans call for the Hennepin plant to begin production in 2025.
“This demonstrates the opportunity for the U.S. to produce meaningful volumes of SAF at scale, transitioning feedstocks from the production of traditional biofuels into SAF,” said LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis. “SAF from existing sources alone could replace more than 50 percent of U.S. fossil jet fuel use. The key is low carbon intensity, where existing infrastructure is paired with carbon capture and sequestration and renewable energy.”