Calumet Specialty Products Partners said this month that its Montana Renewables subsidiary achieved design throughput capacity and completed the startup of its sustainable aviation fuel and pretreatment units at the Great Falls facility.

Gov. Greg Gianforte is scheduled to attend a ceremony in Great Falls on May 10 for Calumet’s first shipment of sustainable aviation fuel to Shell Aviation.

“We are pleased to report that our leading sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel, and renewable hydrogen platform is fully complete and operating,” Bruce Fleming, CEO of Montana Renewables, said in a release. “As we ramp up our pre-treater and draw down existing safety stock of clean feed, we reconfirm go-forward EBITDA guidance of $1.25 to $1.45 per gallon based on local sourcing of untreated feedstocks.”

County approves bonds for Montana Renewables conversion project [2022]

Montana Renewables closed April 19 on a $75 million bridge loan for the project.

“Our capital markets strategy remains unchanged,” Fleming said. “This transaction provides strategic optionality as we continue to build North America’s largest SAF business.”

Montana Renewables is a renewable fuel business.

The company converted part of the existing Calumet refinery into a renewable diesel plant.

City approves Calumet tax abatement

When fully operational, Montana Renewables will “use waste feedstocks to produce low-emission alternatives that directly replace fossil fuel products including renewable hydrogen, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel,” according to the company.

County considering legal services for issuance of municipal bonds for Calumet project

Wayne Leiker, vice president at Calumet’s Montana refinery, told commissioners during their special Nov. 30, 2022 meeting that they’d completed the conversion construction and were in the startup phase of the project.

Montana Renewables began production last fall and on Nov. 30 sent their first rail cars of renewable diesel fuel, according to the company.

“Today is the beginning. By early 2023, we’ll be producing not just renewable diesel and renewable naphtha, we’ll be the largest sustainable aviation fuel production facility in the country,” Ron Colwell, Montana Renewables general manager, said in a November release.