DEAL NOTE: Crowell & Moring Represents Honeywell in Investment in Aviation Biofuels Company Alder Fuels

San Francisco—September 14, 2021: Crowell & Moring represented Honeywell in its multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels, a cleantech company that is pioneering first-of-its-kind technologies for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at scale by converting abundant biomass, such as forest and crop waste, into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation fuel. 

Honeywell’s innovation established the SAF market with its UOP Ecofining process, which is the first technology used to maximize SAF production for commercial aviation. Honeywell and Alder Fuels will jointly commercialize the technology that could demonstrate greater than 100% lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions for aviation fuel. Commercialization is expected by 2025. The transaction was featured by President Biden as part of the Biden Administration’s initiative to advance the use of cleaner and more sustainable fuels in American aviation.  

United Airlines co-invested with Honeywell and as part of the agreement is committing to purchase 1.5 billion gallons of SAF over 20 years from Alder Fuels when produced to United Airlines’ requirements. United Airlines’ purchase agreement is the largest publicly announced SAF agreement in aviation history. 

The Crowell & Moring team was led by Jon O’Connell (San Francisco) and Mark Kass (Washington, D.C.), with support from Charlie Hwang (Washington, D.C.), Vince Galluzzo (Washington, D.C.), Anne Li (New York), John McCarthy (Washington, D.C.), Matt Pelnar (San Francisco), Steve Ryan (Washington, D.C.), Manuela Siragy (Washington, D.C.), and Justin Lurie (New York).