Officials at Yield10 Bioscience Inc. discussed the company’s progress towards commercializing camelina as a feedstock for low carbon-intensity biofuels, including a new offtake agreement with a third-party crusher/refiner customer, during a fourth quarter earnings call held March 14.  

Oliver Peoples, president and CEO of Yield10, said the company made solid progress in 2022 on its commercial plan to launch camelina as a platform crop, with a near-term focus on the biofuel market. Longer-term the company is working to produce camelina-based high-value omega-3 oils for the pharmaceutical, nutrition and feed markets, and is targeting PLA bioplastic production.

In recent months, Yield10 has announced partnerships and collaborations related to biofuel feedstock development. The company in January signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mitsubishi to evaluate the establishment of a partnership to supply, offtake and market camelina feedstock for biofuels production. In March, Yield10 announced the signing of a separate MOU with American Airlines Inc. to collaborate on developing camelina as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.

During the fourth quarter earnings call, Peoples announced Yield10 has also signed an agreement with a privately owned, integrated crusher/biorefiner customer for the offtake of camelina in a key target growing region. He said the agreement is helping the company expand relationships with growers and provides a location to crush camelina grain at a small scale, which Peoples said is important to ensure grain is moved from farms and growers are paid in a timely manner.

Moving into the remainder of 2023, Peoples said the company expects to continue discussions with multiple additional entities in the biofuel supply chain, which will enable Yield10 to establish a network of alliances to supply camelina feedstock oil for biofuels. He also noted that work is progressing on herbicide-tolerant camelina varieties.