DG Fuels lets contract for proposed Louisiana SAF complex

DG Fuels LLC, Washington, DC, has let a contract to Emerson Electric Co. to deliver comprehensive automation and project engineering services for the operator’s planned grassroots complex for production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be built along the west bank of the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, La. (OGJ Online, Mar. 24, 2023).

As part of the contract, Emerson will provide DG Fuels with a suite of advanced sensing, control, systems, equipment monitoring, and production optimization technologies and software to enable safe, reliable and sustainable production at the complex, the service provider said.

DG Fuels’ proposed $4.2-billion Louisiana investment project would involve construction of a very low carbon dioxide (CO₂) lifecycle emissions complex equipped to produce up to 180 million gal/year of SAF from a feedstock of agricultural and timber waste using the operator’s proprietary high-carbon conversion technology, DG Fuels said in a July 25 release.

Relying entirely on cellulosic waste products like timber trimmings from the logging industry and renewable energy such as wind and solar, DG Fuels’ process differs from other systems by having little or no environmental emissions either to the atmosphere or waters, while at the same time providing the local agricultural community a direct customer for all forms of its agricultural waste.

DG Fuels—which has already signed a multiyear SAF offtake agreement with Air France KLM for up to 30,000 tonnes/year (tpy) from the proposed Louisiana plant—previously contracted Black & Veatch to perform feasibility, early engineering, and environmental permitting work on the project.

Should plant construction move forward, Black & Veatch—which, as of June, is also performing the project’s front-end loading (FEL-3) engineering report—would serve as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, according to DG Fuels.

The operator said it now expects to reach final investment decision (FID) on the project in early 2024.

If approved, the SAF complex—production from which could remove about 1.65 million tpy of CO₂ from the atmosphere—would take about 3 years to build.

DG Fuels is also in ongoing discussion with partners and state regulators in Maine for establishing what would become the operator’s second US SAF biofuels complex. If completed, the Maine complex would have an SAF production capacity of 175 million gal/year, DG Fuels said in a Sept. 7 release.