A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

California-based sustainable fuel producer World Energy has received the necessary permits to renovate its Los Angeles-area refinery—the first in North America to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a commercial scale starting in 2016. The $2 billion project will see the former Paramount oil refinery facility fully converted to sustainable fuel production.

 


That will give it a capacity of 340 million gallons a year, an increase of 700 percent from its current rate.&nbsp;The development project is expected to be completed and at full capacity by 2025. The company noted it would partner with Air Products, one of the world’s leading hydrogen producers, SAF technology pioneer Honeywell, and more than a dozen other companies on the project.

 


In a recent visit to the site by&nbsp;AIN, work was already underway with a swarm of construction crews and pipefitters hard at work. Glenn Clausen, the company’s director of engineering and tech services, said it intends to retain and repurpose as much of the existing equipment as possible, while fully clearing and rebuilding other areas of the 65-acre facility.

 


Speaking at a ribbon-cutting for the new project on Friday in honor of Earth Day, World Energy CEO&nbsp;Gene Gebolys explained the significance of the development with regard to decarbonization. “With our partners, we are building the most advanced refinery in the world, this is the site that will trigger not only a solution for Southern California or the U.S., but this is going to advance the state-of-the-art for addressing this massive problem around the world,” he told the audience that included local and state elected officials.

 


“Airplanes are going to run on high-density liquid fuels for the foreseeable future, and what we need to do&nbsp;is get into that fuel tank with lower-carbon fuels, so our approach to making net-carbon-zero real&nbsp;is to take existing aircraft, and make them fly in a much-less carbon-intensive way,” Gebolys said.

 


SAF is a renewable fuel derived from sustainable feedstocks—tallow, in the case of the Paramount facility, delivered by streams of rail cars.&nbsp;The sustainable fuel is not co-processed with petroleum in traditional oil refineries. SAF is currently approved for blending with conventional jet fuel at ratios of up to 50 percent. World Energy is among the industry leaders working to gain approval for the use of the fuel at 100 percent.

 


By 2050, the company estimates its fuels will displace more than 76 million tonnes of CO2—the equivalent of 3.8 million net-zero-emission airline flights from Los Angeles to New York.

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

World Energy To Upgrade Sustainable Fuel Refinery

World Energy is renovating its sustainable fuel refinery in Paramount, California, which upon completion in 2025 will massively increase its output.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

DG Fuels plans for the $5 billion production facility to be operational by 2030

Minnesota Selected for SAF Production Site

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

With jet-A holding a 75-year head start over SAF, it will take time to catch up

Still In Its Infancy, SAF Growing by Leaps and Bounds

The weeklong program compared emissions from several fuels

Gulfstream Completes 100% SAF Emissions Tests

Charles Alcock

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

RTX companies are jointly producing a technology demonstrator powertrain for EU-backed emissions-reduction project

Collins Delivers Power Control Unit for Hybrid-electric Propulsion

Sarah Rose

Partnership announced in sync with NBAA-BACE

ARGI, EKI Partner for Sustainability 

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Carbon credits offset the team’s travel 

IBAC Makes Carbon-neutral Journey to NBAA-BACE 

Jessica Reed

Panelists from Avfuel, Women in Aviation International, and 4Air participated

Bizav Experts Talk SAF Adoption Challenges

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

More In Environment