DG Fuels LLC, Washington, DC, has secured Samsung E&A Co. Ltd. for delivery of engineering and design services on the operator’s proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production complex under development along the west bank of the Mississippi River, near Moonshine, La., in St. James Parish.
As part of an agreement signed on Dec. 12, Samsung E&A will provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the project’s clean hydrogen production components, the service provider said on Dec. 15.
Samsung E&A’s specific work under the FEED contract will focus on the complex’s blue hydrogen plant—including an air separation unit, autothermal reformer, and carbon dioxide (CO2) capture—as well as infrastructure for green hydrogen based on water electrolysis technology, according to the firm.
Samsung E&A—which confirmed the value and duration of the FEED contract at $15.7 million and 10 months, respectively—said it expects to secure a subsequent contract valued at about $3 billion for the main project upon completing its scope of basic design work under the current agreement.
Formal award of the FEED contract follows DG Fuels’ confirmation in a separate Nov. 10 release of its preliminary appointment of Samsung E&A for the overall $8-billion Louisiana synthetic jet fuel project’s blue hydrogen, green hydrogen, and power generation installations.
Scheduled to begin FEED for its current portion of the project by yearend, Samsung E&A will be collaborating with Black & Veatch, which was previously contracted to serve as the complex’s main engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor and overall integrator the project’s component technologies, DG Fuels said.
Under development on a 3,000-acre site along the west bank of the Mississippi River, DG Fuels’ planned SAF project will be equipped with the Johnson Matthey (JM)-bp PLC jointly developed FT CANS technology to process locally sourced agricultural and biowaste feedstocks—including sugar cane, timber, and other plant waste—to produce 600,000 tonnes/year (tpy; about 13,000 b/d) of SAF that can be directly used in lieu of conventional jet fuel to reduce commercial-flight CO2 emissions by up to 100%.
Alongside administrative offices, the energy complex will also include installations for feedstock pretreatment and feedstock and product storage and handling, according to project plans.
Additional technology, timeline
DG Fuels previously let a contract to Maire SPA subsidiary NextChem SPA’s MyRechemical SRL for licensing of its proprietary NX Circular technology for the Louisiana complex’s gasification and gas treatment units that, together, will be able to process 1 million tpy of locally sourced bagasse—the matted, cellulose-fiber residue byproduct of post-processed sugarcane stalks—as well as other sugarcane waste and pulp material into suitable feedstock as a first step in the site’s SAF manufacturing process.
According to the latest project update on its official website, DG Fuels—which is also developing similar complexes to be built in Nebraska and Minnesota—said it expects the Louisiana SAF project to begin production by 2028.
