Comstock Fuels, SACL sign commercial agreements
US-based energy technology development company Comstock Fuels has signed definitive agreements with Singapore-based renewable fuel project developer SACL for exclusive marketing agreement for Comstock Fuels’ lignocellulosic biomass refining processes in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The agreements will allow SACL to facilitate financing, construction, and operation of additional sites in Malaysia, adding to the four existing sites currently under development in Australia and Vietnam, now totalling over 400m gallons of renewable fuel per dry metric ton of feedstock.
“SACL’s team has continued advancing and expanding their projects, and I look forward to meeting with Garry next week in Australia, as we collaborate and advance all of our mutual objectives in Asia,” said David Winsness, president of Comstock Fuels. “The prospective site in New Zealand is truly outstanding.”
Comstock Fuels is planning to to build, own, and operate the first 75,000mtpy demonstration scale facility in Oklahoma, followed by three additional 75,000mtpy facilities, each of which would then be scaled-up to 1m mtpy commercial scale Bioleum refineries.
Collectively, the first four planned US facilities will produce more than 920m GGE per year of renewable fuels, including about 560m GGE from woody and woody-like biomass and another 360m GGE from vegetable oils.
Combined with SACL, Comstock Fuels is planning for over 1.38bn GGE per year of initial renewable fuel production before considering all other licensees and projects in the commercial development pipeline.
“Comstock Fuels’ breakthrough yields unlock an abundant, available and efficient feedstock source that enables extraordinary new opportunities for renewable fuels project developers, especially given the ongoing global surge in demand for SAF,” said Garry Millar, SACL’s founder and director.
As per the early adopter license terms, SACL and its stakeholders previously identified four qualified sites for the construction of four BioleumTM Refineries based on Comstock Fuels’ industry leading yields and decarbonising impact, including a 250,000mtpy refinery at Myamyn, near Portland, Victoria, Australia, 250,000mtpy refinery in New South Wales, Australia, 750,000mtpy refinery located in Queensland, Australia, and another 750,000mtpy Bioleum Refinery in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam.
SACL also has sites under negotiations in New Zealand and Malaysia.
As part of the commercial agreements, Comstock Fuels will contribute site specific technology rights in exchange for a 20% equity stake in each Bioleum Refinery, plus a royalty fee equal to 6% of each refinery’s sales of licensed products, and engineering fees equal to 6% of total construction costs.
Moreover, at least one of the Bioleum Refineries will initially start with a capacity of 75,000mtpy prior to scaling-up to 250,000mtpy or more, with early adopter royalty fees of 3% of sales and engineering fees equal to 3% of construction costs until scaling-up to 250,000mtpy, with an initial upfront payment of $2.5m payable upon execution of each applicable site-specific license agreement for each refinery.
The four planned Bioleum Refineries will have an estimated total construction cost of over $4bn to produce approximately 280m gallons per year of gasoline, SAF and other renewable fuels from lignocellulosic biomass and about another 180m GGE from vegetable oils, with over $3bn per year in sales at current prices.