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Michigan sustainable fuel initiative could drive demand for generations

A new partnership has been announced in Michigan to develop sustainable aviation and maritime fuel supply chains.

Corn Marketing Program of Michigan Executive Director Scott Piggott tells Brownfield, “We’re the only one that has an international port and a leading airport within close proximity so that we could supply both of those facilities with biofuels.”

A $3 million grant will help lay the groundwork for a sustainable fuel facility, starting with a feasibility study in the Detroit region.

Piggott says maritime fuel is on a faster track for adoption.

“To be able to directly fill some of the largest container ships in the world is a direct opportunity,” he says. “If we could even get small percentages of those markets, it would drive corn demand for generations.”

A recent National Lab of the Rockies report estimates the current fleet of methanol dual-fuel vessels has the potential to consume two billion gallons of ethanol annually.

At the Great Lakes Sustainable Fuel Symposium, Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority Executive Director Mark Schrupp said the Port has 1,300 acres of waterfront property available for redevelopment and wants to see more lower-carbon fuel offered at terminals.

Piggott says the state also plans to work with Michigan State University to develop a carbon-benefit verification standard within the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program.

“We will explore the development of potentially a carbon cooperative, an opportunity for farmers to collectively bring their carbon values together to be able to trade them through price discovery that a cooperative structure could provide,” he says.

A new report commissioned by the checkoff from Public Sector Consultants estimates front-end engineering design for an alcohol-to-jet hub would cost between $50 and $100 million, with construction potentially reaching $3 billion.

A regional-sized facility producing 90 million gallons of the fuel could consume about 300 million gallons of ethanol feedstock each year.