Aemetis, Inc. (AMTX), a renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, reported that the engineering work completed during the past year by CTCI for the Aemetis Riverbank Carbon Zero sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant is on schedule for filing permits and conducting procurement commencing in Q4 2022.
In October 2021, Aemetis announced that it had entered into an agreement with engineering and construction firm CTCI Americas to conduct permitting and engineering work for the Carbon Zero renewable jet and diesel plant to be built in Riverbank, California. CTCI Americas is a subsidiary of $2.3 billion revenues CTCI Corp., a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm with extensive technology and energy industry project engineering and construction experience in California.
In addition to CTCI, the engineering and project management team for the Carbon Zero renewable jet and diesel plant includes ATSI, Inc. of Amherst, NY in the role of Owner’s Engineer to advise Aemetis on technical matters related to the project. ATSI is a firm with 40 years of engineering and project management firm with senior engineers who have extensive experience in the construction and commissioning of oil refineries worldwide, including commissioning of a $10 billion refinery in Asia. ATSI has performed more than five years of owner’s engineer and project management work with Aemetis, including carbon reduction projects at the Keyes ethanol plant and the ongoing Carbon Capture and Underground Sequestration (CCUS) projects in Riverbank and Keyes, CA.
The Aemetis Carbon Zero plant is being developed at a 125-acre former U.S. Army munitions production facility. The process design utilizes renewable hydrogen and renewable hydroelectric electricity to hydrotreat renewable oils to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD). The Riverbank plant is designed for a capacity of 90 million gallons per year with full flexibility for either 100% SAF or 100% RD production.
“With the extensive engineering and construction experience of CTCI and ATSI, we are fortunate to have a team of engineers and construction managers with experience in building renewable fuels plants in California,” said Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “The Aemetis plant process design for the Riverbank plant utilizes renewable oils, renewable hydrogen and renewable power to produce advanced renewable fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. There are a limited number of firms with an ability to execute large scale renewable fuels projects within California’s environmental requirements.”
“CTCI brings an experienced EPC team of engineers, designers, supply chain, and project management to the Aemetis sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant,” stated Patrick Jameson, CEO of CTCI Americas. “We are currently working on several sustainable and renewable fuel projects including an EPC of a large renewable diesel plant in California.”
“ATSI has worked closely with Aemetis for many years and we are comfortable with the high standards of project execution required to meet their expectations,” said Brian Fojtasek, President of ATSI, Inc. “Our role as the Owner’s Engineer firm on the SAF and RD project enables Aemetis to have an expert independent view of technology, engineering, construction, and project management to improve the speed, cost, and quality of project execution.”
Sustainable aviation fuel has a significant environmental advantage over traditional jet fuel, with up to a 100% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a lifecycle basis when utilizing low carbon energy and feedstocks along with carbon sequestration. SAF is a vital solution in the decarbonization of aviation.