Southwest Kansas set to fuel the future of flight
LIBERAL, Kan. (KSNW) — The State of Kansas is taking a leap to be on the cutting edge of sustainable fuels with a new biofuel plant in southwest Kansas. Officials gathered for a groundbreaking at the SAFFiRE plant in Liberal Wednesday morning.
SAFFiRE stands for Sustainable Aviation Fuel From Renewable Ethanol. It is owned by Southwest Airlines.
The plant will use the corn stalks and husks left over from harvest and turn them into ethanol. The ethanol will then be turned into sustainable aviation fuel, which has an 83% lower carbon footprint than conventional jet fuel.
“At first, we only advocate gathering about 50% of what would be left on the field,” Marykate O’Brien, SAFFiRE chief technology officer, said. “You want to leave some of it there to be able to regenerate the soil.”
The plan is for Liberal to ship the ethanol to Georgia, where the first sustainable aviation fuel plant broke ground in January. The Georgia facility will turn it into aviation fuel, EVENTUALLY producing 10 million gallons a year.
Southwest wants to replace 10% of its aviation fuel with renewable fuel by 2030. The SAFFiRE plant is leasing space from CONESTOGA energy’s Liberal, Kansas site. And the goal is to see what works well and then scale up.
“This is a pilot project, so our goal is to prove this technology can kind of work in an integrated system, to really understand what kind of equipment we need before we really begin to scale up,” O’Brien said.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided initial funding for the plan. Southwest Airlines matched 50% of it. Southwest has the option of buying the ethanol to fuel its planes.
Senator Jerry Moran was at Wednesday’s event.
“With this new energy plant, Liberal will play a key role in developing sustainable aviation fuel that is a cleaner fuel for planes, creates a new market for farmers and brings the United States closer to being energy independent,” he said in a news release. “In addition, China’s recent decision to decrease imports of sorghum makes projects like this even more vital to support our producers.”
“It creates jobs here in the state and can lessen some of that dependence on other countries for our energy future,” O’Brien said.
Construction on the pilot plant in Liberal will begin in November. Ongoing operational direct and indirect impacts to the area are expected to include up to $8.6 million.
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