The eight-year deal is the second large order secured by Colorado-based Red Rocks Biofuel, which last year signed a similar deal with Southwest Airlines.
Officials who announced the FedEx deal Tuesday earlier this week conceded that 3 million gallons a year is but a fraction of the more than 90 million gallons of jet fuel the company burns each month, but they pointed out that from small things big things grow.
"We set a strong goal to obtain 30 percent of our jet fuel from alternative sources by 2030," Joel Murdock, a Fed Ex managing director of strategic projects in a written statement.
"Developing a sustainable jet fuel product that can be produced at scale and transported to where it's needed at a competitive price is a challenge that can only be solved by working together," Murdock said.
The fuel for both FedEx and Southwest will be produced at a Oregon refinery that is currently in its planning stages. Once operational, it is expected to convert roughly 140,000 tons of forest waste into 15 million gallons of jet biofuel a year.
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