The renewable fuels business in the US has reached a tipping point. The clouds have finally lifted on this burgeoning sector, after a 10-year struggle to commercialize various processes for producing renewable jet fuel and diesel. A significant milestone came last month, when Boston-based World Energy acquired AltAir Fuels in California. After buying several facilities for producing low-carbon fuels since 2012, World Energy is now the second-largest biomass-based diesel producer in the US, with over 250 million gallons of capacity spread across the US and Canada. In addition to the Paramount refinery that houses AltAir’s production facility near Los Angeles, World Energy also owns plants in Rome, Georgia, Natchez, Mississippi, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Houston, Texas. With its recent acquisition of Biox, it also operates two joint-venture plants in Canada — Hamilton and Sombra facilities in Ontario. Altair’s co-founder, Bryan Sherbacow, facilitated the California transactions with World Energy through an introduction by Noble Americas, now a division of Vitol, which provides working capital and related services in California. AltAir Fuels is currently the only company that is supplying renewable jet on a long-term basis, under a deal in 2016 that made United Airlines the first US carrier to integrate sustainable jet fuel into its daily flight operations. World Fuel Services executed a similar contract for renewable jet and diesel. Those partnerships have been crucial for the success of their business model, World Energy executives say.
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