Military Signs Contract for Green Jet Fuel That's Nearly 16 Times the Price of Conventional Fuel

With many claiming to feel the pangs of the sequestration, it appears a green company's contract for a more expensive jet fuel was allowed to go through.

The renewable chemical and biofuel company Gevo in its first quarter investor relations report stated that it signed a contract with the Defense Logistics Agency to supply 3,650 gallons of renewable jet fuel.

Gevo's bio-based isobutanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota. (Photo: Gevo)

The order, worth $215,350 total ($59/gallon), is set to be delivered by 2013's second quarter and has the option to be increased to 12,500 gallons, which would cost up to $737,500.

Gevo calls this an "initial testing phase."

Under other contracts, the company already supplies renewable jet fuel for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

As the Washington Examiner pointed out, DLA set conventional JP-8 jet fuel as costing $3.78 per gallon at FY 2013 rates.

In other renewable jet fuel news, the Wisconsin-based company Virent Inc. delivered 100 gallons of bio-fuel this week to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

This C-17 Globemaster III was designed to run on hydrotreated renewable jet fuels. (Photo: USAF)

The Dayton Daily News reported that the jet fuel produced from 100-percent renewable plant sugars will be tested against applicable standards as the Air Force continues to strive toward its goal of flying on domestic, alternative fuels by 2030.

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