Enviva, Alder strike deal on biomass for sustainable aviation fuel

Enviva Inc and privately held Alder Fuels have agreed to partner on the long-term supply of biomass byproducts from timber for making a biofuel for aviation, a key part of cutting carbon emissions from air travel, the companies said on Tuesday. Under the agreement, Enviva, a US producer of woody biomass, will supply up to 750,000 tonnes per year of what it said is sustainably sourced forest byproducts like treetops and tree limbs to Alder, which is building a facility in the U.S. Southeast to make an energy-dense liquid that can be refined into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). They expect the agreement to begin in 2024. The biomass under the deal can make about 37m gallons a year of SAF, a replacement for petroleum-based jet fuel, and is the largest such US agreement, Bryan Sherbacow, the CE and president of Alder, told Reuters. The companies did not reveal the terms of the deal. Sherbacow said the biggest problem with SAF has been scalability, but that Alder will provide lower-cost fuel that can also incorporate sources such as regenerative grasses and sugarcane waste.<br/>