Southwest inks deal for Biofuel

[redflyer65]

3 million gallons a year in 2016. A small amount, but an interesting concept.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/...-from-forest-residues-beginning-in-2016.html/

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Buy a refinery and then you are a somebody!!

 

[Scoot 11]

Buy a refinery, lose millions, and then you are a somebody!!

Fixed it for ya Bill!

 

[xkuzme1]

Buying a refinery actually brought fuel down for the entire industry. Awesome!

 

[General Lee]

Scoot knows all about that. He fuels planes and dumps their lavs by hand. He's also got a blue, toothless smile. What a complete doooosh. The guy is such a moron! And he and Red hold hands.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[daviator]

Article doesn't say how much their paying per gallon. Anyone know?

 

[SpauldingSmails]

Article doesn't say how much their paying per gallon. Anyone know?

Yeah, noticed that as well. I'd bet this is much more about "feeling good" than anything rooted in economics, given the minuscule amount. It could however help this new refiner get off the ground which might yield a long-term (long-shot) reward.

 

[waveflyer]

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/b...n=Feed:+industry_24+(Industry+Green)&page=all


Red Rock Biofuels lands contracts with Southwest Airlines, feds
Sep 24, 2014, 6:35pm MDT UPDATED: Sep 25, 2014, 6:36am MDT

Southwest Airlines will use Red Rock's low carbon renewable jet fuel.



Cathy Proctor
Reporter-
Denver Business Journal
Email | Facebook | Twitter
Fort Collins-based Red Rock Biofuels LLC has had a very, very good week with news on Wednesday that the company has signed a deal to supply Southwest Airlines with about 3 million gallons per year of low carbon renewable jet fuel.
The Southwest Airlines deal came days after Red Rock was chosen Sept. 19 to receive a $70 million federal grant to help build a $200 million refinery in Lakeview, Oregon, capable of producing 12 million gallons per year of renewable, liquid fuel using 140,000 tons per year of woody biomass a by-product of the timber industry. The company uses a Fischer-Tropsch process to refine the organic material into fuel.
The $70 million grant to Red Rock is part of a total of $210 million in contracts by the Departments of the Navy, Agriculture and Energy that will help three biofuel companies build and operate refineries capable of delivering more than 100 million gallons of military grade fuel.
It's been a great week,said Red Rock?s CEO, Terry Kulesa.
It couldn't get much better unless I hit the PowerBall, he added.
Kulesa also is the co-founder and president of Red Rocks parent company, IR1 Group, a Fort Collins-based consulting group for the biofuels industry.
Kulesa said Red Rocks and its team have been working on the refinery project for two years. The company expects to break ground on the project in the summer of 2015 and hopes to be making fuel in the second quarter of 2016, he said.
This [has] been a long road, but it all comes down to execution which is what we're going to do now, he said.
The company's process heats woody biomass to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit hot enough to turn the wood into a gas.
The gas is cleaned, then sent through a Fischer-Tropsch process, where it's converted into liquid hydrocarbons. Additional processing turns those hydrocarbons into jet, diesel and naptha fuels.
The Fischer-Tropsch process dates to Germany in the 1920s and uses a set of chemical reactions to break down carbon and hydrogen to form liquid fuel.
Southwest said it will blend the Red Rock biofuel with regular jet fuel and use it in its Bay Area operations. The first delivery is expected in 2016, according to Southwest.
Kulesa said Southwest can blend Red Rock's biofuel 50-50 with regular jet fuel.
Red Rock started talking to Southwest a few years ago, and chose the company because it was stable financially, Kulesa said.
The airline also is a member of an industry and government coalition, called the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, which is focused on developing and using alternative jet fuels for commercial flights.
Southwest said its been following the development of alternative fuel technologies and the Red Rocks product is the first viable opportunity the airline found that met both its financial and sustainability targets.
Red Rock Biofuel's technology, economics and approved use made entering into an agreement for purchase a win-win situation, said Bill Tiffany, Southwest's vice president of the airline's supply chain.
Red Rock's CEO, Terry Kulesa, said that, From the outset, we have sought to build the best possible team of project partners. A conversation we started with Southwest on the premise of providing renewable jet fuel at cost parity with conventional jet fuel has evolved into a great partnership. We're happy to help Southwest diversify its fuel supply.
Red Rock was one of three companies that were tapped for federal grant money last week. The companies, collectively, will produce more than 100 million gallons of military-grade fuel at a price that's competitive with fossil fuel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy announcement.
Kulesa said the three companies involved in the federal awards will collectively be able to produce more than 100 million gallons of fuel at an average cost of $3.40 per gallon.
"We're going to be lower," Kulesa said of Red Rock?s product.
Red Rock expects to sell its fuel to Southwest at $3 per gallon, about the same price as regular jet fuel, he said.
Cathy Proctor covers energy, the environment and transportation for the Denver Business Journal and edits the weekly "Energy Inc." newsletter. Phone: 303-803-9233. Subscribe to the Energy Inc. newsletter

 

[waveflyer]

I bet there is a California and Bay Area tax savings/incentive for this as well. .
We all know how many tanker in and out of California just for money

 

[Scoot 11]

Scoot knows all about that. He fuels planes and dumps their lavs by hand. He's also got a blue, toothless smile. What a complete doooosh. The guy is such a moron! And he and Red hold hands.



Bye Bye---General Lee

And you know about sundaes cause you're a fat pimple faced Skywest dispatcher living in your parents basement.
Don't you have a flight attendant to blow, jerkoff!