Jet-Fuel Booze Gets a Whole New Meaning as Bill Gates Announces Funding for Sustainable Fuel Created From Alcohol

Bill Gates speaks during the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum on October 19, 2021 in London, England. (Photo: Leon Neal – WPA Pool /Getty Images)

A Bill Gates fund has granted $50 million in startup money to build a refinery that will produce a sustainable version of aviation fuel from alcohol. LanzaJet received the grant from the Breakthrough Energy fund to further their work on ethanol-based fuel.  

The aviation market is seeking more sustainable and lower emissions fuel but this is impeded by the small amounts currently being produced.   

LanzaJet’s first commercial plant is based in Soperton, GA. The facility in Soperton is called the Freedom Pines Fuel Plant, and it is set to begin production of the fuel in 2023. LanzaJet has stated that when fully operational, the plant will produce around nine million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel, and one million gallons of renewable diesel, per year. Which would double the amount of renewable aviation fuel in the US. 

This would significantly lower the cost of renewable fuel, bringing it down to around the same cost as fossil fuels for planes. 

LanzaJet will produce the fuel using ethanol from products like sugarcane and waste corn which is essentially the makings of rum and bourbon. The technology takes ethanol from sugarcane and corn fermentation and chemically converts it into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel.  According to Insider, LanzaJet said that greenhouse gas emissions from its SAF are at least 70% lower than conventional fossil fuels.

Commercial aviation contributes just over 2% of all human-induced C02 emissions. But none the less,  SAF is an important part of how airlines can reduce their climate impact. Booze might just be the key to a greener way of air travel.

This could have a significant impact on the world’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions by the year 2050. 

While some spirits may have been insultingly described as jet fuel in the past, now it may actually be fueling planes in the future.

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