Southwest Invests in Energy Dept.-Backed SAF Co.

Southwest Airways has invested in SAFFire Renewables, an organization fashioned by D3Max as a part of a U.S. Division of Vitality-backed venture to develop and produce scalable sustainable aviation gasoline, the provider introduced Wednesday. 

Funded with a DOE grant matched by Southwest’s funding, SAFFire will use know-how developed by the DOE’s Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory to transform corn stover, a waste feedstock in the USA, into renewable ethanol that then can be upgraded into SAF. 

The businesses didn’t disclose funding particulars, however D3Max in November 2021 obtained a DOE grant for practically $500,000 for the manufacturing of SAF, a portion of the greater than $64 million the DOE awarded for biofuels analysis to cut back transportation emissions. On Wednesday, DOE introduced it might award a further $59 million to speed up the manufacturing of biofuels and bioproducts to cut back transportation emissions.