LanzaJet makes first commercial ethanol jet fuel

November 29, 2025

LanzaJet, a leading U.S. sustainable fuel innovator, has announced a major breakthrough: the successful production of jet fuel made from ethanol at its Freedom Pines Fuels plant in Soperton, Georgia.

This achievement marks the world’s first commercial-scale output of ethanol-derived jet fuel, delivering a renewable, non-petroleum aviation fuel that works seamlessly with today’s aircraft and fueling infrastructure.

Backed by more than 15 years of research and development, the milestone validates LanzaJet’s proprietary Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology, a platform capable of converting a wide range of sustainable feedstocks—including agricultural waste, purpose-grown energy crops, municipal solid waste, and captured carbon—into drop-in aviation fuel.

LanzaJet highlights this advancement as a major step forward for farmers, biofuels producers, aviation stakeholders, and climate-focused innovators.

“This achievement represents the culmination of 15 years of research, collaboration, investment, and scale-up—and it proves ethanol can be transformed into jet fuel at true commercial scale,” the company stated.

Why ethanol matters: a scalable solution for SAF production

Aviation faces urgent pressure to decarbonize, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) remains the only scalable near-term solution for reducing emissions from long-haul flights.

However, the current dominant SAF pathway—HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids)—depends heavily on limited feedstocks such as used cooking oil and waste fats. With global demand rising, these resources are quickly being constrained.

LanzaJet’s ATJ pathway offers a critical alternative by leveraging widely available ethanol. Through a continuous catalytic conversion process, ethanol is transformed into Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK) via:

• Dehydration – converting ethanol into ethylene

• Oligomerization – building longer hydrocarbon chains

• Hydrogenation/Hydrotreating – refining chains into kerosene-range molecules

The result is a fully certified SAF compatible with existing turbines, pipelines, and airport systems.

CEO Jimmy Samartzis noted, “This milestone is a major win for global aviation and a sign of what’s possible for the industry’s future.”

According to LanzaJet, ATJ is the most commercially ready, scalable SAF solution developed in the past decade, supporting energy security, domestic fuel production, and growth in agricultural economies.

Higher-quality fuel with lower emissions

The Freedom Pines Fuels facility stands as a first-of-its-kind (FOAK) integrated biorefinery, representing more than $300 million in investment. The plant incorporates cutting-edge technologies such as:

• Technip Energies’ Hummingbird system (Ethanol-to-Ethylene)

• A combined DOE/LanzaTech Oligomerization process

By sourcing from a diverse blend of sustainable feedstocks, the plant delivers SAF with substantially lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil-based jet fuel.

When blended with Jet A-1, the resulting fuel meets all international aviation standards, offering a drop-in solution for airlines worldwide.

LanzaJet reports that its SAF delivers higher energy density than conventional Jet-A, providing a superior-quality fuel while reducing environmental impact.

Beyond its climate benefits, the Freedom Pines facility is generating economic value in rural Georgia—creating hundreds of construction jobs and supporting more than 65 permanent direct and indirect jobs in Treutlen County.

Global deployment and the road to net zero aviation

LanzaJet is scaling its ATJ technology worldwide, with projects already underway across:

• United States

• Australia

• Japan

• India

• United Kingdom

• Colombia

• European Union

• Middle East

• Kazakhstan

As the aviation sector targets Net Zero by 2050, LanzaJet’s success demonstrates that the technologies needed to accelerate deep decarbonization are not theoretical—they exist today.