NCET Biz Tips: Bioenergy Takes Center Stage

My guess is that all of us have heard the expression, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” What one person considers worthless or useless could be valuable to someone else.

In a recent article, Inc. magazine took that expression to a new and higher level, “One person’s trash is another’s transportation fuel.”

Many don’t know that Reno is an essential base for clean energy company Fulcrum BioEnergy. Founded in 2007 with headquarters in Pleasanton, California, Fulcrum BioEnergy aims to produce renewable, drop-in transportation fuels at scale from an abundant and low-cost source that doesn’t need to be grown or pulled from a well… household garbage.

The Fulcrum Sierra BioFuels plant at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Storey County includes a feedstock processing facility and a biorefinery. The plant has the capacity to convert 175,000 tons of prepared landfill waste into approximately 11 million gallons of renewable syncrude annually, which will then be upgraded to renewable transportation fuel.

The Sierra plant’s first big achievement? Fulcrum recently shipped the world’s first railcar of syncrude made from landfill waste from its Sierra plant to strategic partner Marathon Petroleum for upgrading into fuel.

Fulcrum’s dream of converting landfill waste to renewable fuel is now a reality.

Fulcrum BioEnergy is committed to tackling two significant challenges. First, providing the aviation industry with clean, sustainable aviation fuel to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum fuel. Second, reducing the amount of waste we dispose of in our landfills.

The result is a net-zero carbon fuels future. And that is the big key here. Ensuring that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere is equal to the amount being removed from it.

How did it all begin? It started with the belief that underscores Fulcrum’s entire reason for being. Eric Pryor, president and CEO, said it best. “At Fulcrum, we believe that landfill waste is one of the great untapped resources for building a cleaner future. We’re helping build the future of net-zero carbon transportation fuels around the world.”

Fulcrum maintains over 100 employees spanning engineering, marketing, development, accounting, and admin. That figure also includes operators at its waste process facility and biorefinery.

What is “very cool” about Fulcrum BioEnergy? Its hard-earned capability to convert municipal solid waste “trash” into jet fuel.

Another Fulcrum BioEnergy success story is its United Kingdom subsidiary. Fulcrum BioEnergy, Ltd. has recently received a grant of approximately £16.8 million ($20.2 million) from the UK Department for Transport Advanced Fuels Fund. The grant, which runs through 2025, will support the development of Fulcrum NorthPoint, a residual waste to sustainable aviation facility. This plant is expected to have the capacity to transform about 600,000 metric tons of residual waste into approximately 100 million liters of low-carbon SAF per year when it enters operations in 2027.

Fulcrum’s state-of-the-art Reno Sierra plant and location have overcome many of the challenges faced by the bioenergy industry. Some of those challenges are efficient collection and processing of household waste, feedstock availability and consistency, feedstock composition and contaminants, environmental and social impacts, and regulatory and policy frameworks.

With technology innovation, integrated supply chain management, environmental and social sustainability, and policy advocacy, Fulcrum BioEnergy drives the bioenergy industry path.

Learning about questions people often ask Fulcrum about their operation is interesting.

Some are “You are doing what?” “Turning trash into what?” Many of these people will look up at the sky in an effort to understand the process. Many questions have to do with the stages of the Fulcrum BioEnergy process.

Needless to say, there is an abundant and growing supply of garbage in the U.S. and worldwide. Fulcrum has identified more than 10 future plant locations in the U.S. with the capacity to produce 400 million gallons of renewable, net-zero carbon transportation fuel each year.

Exciting times.

If you want to learn more about bioenergy’s growing contribution to a more sustainable environment, your NCET Tech Wednesday opportunity is right around the corner.

Sign up early for Fulcrum BioEnergy’s presentation on May 10 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with networking from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. During your visit, you will hear and learn about:

• What happens to the waste after you leave it at your curb or business?

• How the waste is diverted from the landfill and processed through Fulcrum’s facility to create a prepared feedstock.

• How the feedstock is converted into transportation fuel through gasification and Fischer-Tropsch technologies to produce renewable drop-in fuels.

• An overview of Fulcrum’s strategic partners.

• Fulcrum’s growth plans for the future.

So don’t be late. Register now.

Bill Leonard is VP of Communications at NCET and a freelance copywriter of conversion-driven customer case studies and white papers. Connect with Bill at Bill Leonard Creative and LinkedIn. NCET produces education and networking events to help people explore business and technology.