Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures (SARV), a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Company, has added SAFFiRE Renewables LLC to its investment portfolio. SARV focuses on creating opportunities for Southwest to obtain scalable sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
SAFFiRE stands for Sustainable Aviation Fuel From Renewable Ethanol. It is part of a project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop and produce scalable renewable ethanol that can be converted to SAF. SAFFiRE expects to utilize technology developed at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to convert corn stover, an agricultural residue feedstock, into renewable ethanol.
The acquisition marks Southwest’s transition from investor to sole owner of SAFFiRE. Southwest first invested in SAFFiRE during phase one of the pilot project in 2022. With this acquisition, SAFFiRE plans to proceed with phase two of the project by developing a pilot plant hosted at Conestoga’s Arkalon Energy ethanol facility in Liberal, Kansas. Initially, the plant is intended to utilize SAFFiRE’s exclusive technology license from NREL to process 10 tons of corn stover per day for the production of renewable ethanol. The ethanol is then to be converted into SAF by LanzaJet Inc.
Southwest recently made a $30 million investment in LanzaJet, an SAF technology provider and producer with patented ethanol-to-SAF technology. As part of its agreement with Southwest, LanzaJet intends to build an ethanol-to-SAF facility to produce SAF primarily for Southwest. The planned facility includes capabilities to convert SAFFiRE’s cellulosic ethanol into SAF.
Raymond Jaworowski currently co-authors three of Forecast International's best-selling products: Civil Aircraft Forecast, Military Aircraft Forecast, and Rotorcraft Forecast. As a contributor to Aviation Week & Space Technology's Aerospace Source Book, he has authored Aircraft Outlooks, and provided input for the publication's Aircraft Specifications tables. Raymond has represented Forecast International at numerous conferences and trade shows, often as a featured speaker. He is a member of the American Helicopter Society.
