Chinese airline aims for biofuel flight this year using jatropha

27.9.2011 (Airport Business)

Boeing China planning to make biofuel-powered jets
 
 

BOEING CHINA announced on Wednesday it plans to use biofuel as aircraft power
for the first time and to launch the maiden flight of such a plane later this
year, in conjunction with Civil Aviation Administration of China and AIR CHINA. 
 The use of bio-fuel is a complicated chain, involving planting the raw material
and extracting fuel after the harvest.

As one of the most important partners for Chinese aviation industry, Boeing has
been focusing on innovation as the core strategy in recent years, setting up three
laboratories in Shanghai, Beijing-based Qinghua University and Qingdao.

According to an official with Boeing China, there are 35 Chinese suppliers for
Boeing so far, making parts for all series of Boeing aircrafts including the 787
and 747-800.

http://www.airportbusiness.com/publication/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=47661

 

and

Biofuels’ Potential to Transform the Global Economy

1.8.2011 (Energy Collective)

which includes this excerpt below:

Fast forward to this March, when a European consortium of Airbus, Romanian state-owned
airline Tarom, Honeywell’s UOP and CCE (Camelina Company España) announced plans
to establish a bio-fuel production center in Romania to manufacture civil aviation
fuel, using camelina as a feedstock.

Farther east, last month China National Petroleum Corp. announced that it had
delivered 15 tons of jatropha oil to help Air China operate the country’s maiden
biofuel-powered test flight, tentatively scheduled for later this year. According
to a posting on its website, CNPC, Asia’s largest oil producer, is proving that
it has the ability to produce biofuel from non-grain feedstocks to clean up the
environment.

On Monday, Mozambique’s Agencia Informacao Mocambique news agency announced that
Sun Biofuels Mozambique, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Sun Biofuels, has exported
the first batch of 30 tons of jatropha oil produced from its fields in the central
Mozambican province of Manica to Germany’s Lufthansa airline.

The biggest single impetus to the development of biofuels for civil aviation
occurred on 8 June, when the international standards certifying body ASTM International
announced its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made official later
in the year, allowing the use of hydro-treated renewable jet (HRJ) Jet A-1 fuel
in commercial aviation.

Currently these biofuels are “drop ins,” and must be blended in a 50-50 mixture
with Jet A-1 fuel derived from traditional fossil fuel kerosene.

The biggest single independent meant at present to a wide scale production of
jet biofuel is its inordinate cost. Biojet fuel delivered last year to the U.S.
armed forces for evaluation cost more than $70 a gallon to produce, a price which
obviously makes it at present supremely uncompetitive with fuel derived from traditional
hydrocarbon sources. Supporters of biofuel production argue that processing costs
will decrease in direct proportion to rising volumes of production.

Both Brazil and the United States have viable biofuel production in the form
of ethanol, in the case of Brazil derived from sugar cane, in the United States,
produced from corn.

…………….

http://theenergycollective.com/staffjam/62109/biofuels-potential-transform-global-economy

 

 

and

 

Air Transport World

1.2.2011

Air China plans transpacific biofuel test flight in 2011

PetroChina will provide jatropha-based feedstock for the project. The flight
would follow a number of biofuel test flights conducted by airlines worldwide,
including Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines (ATW Daily News, Feb. 2, 2009) and TAM (ATW Daily News, Nov. 24, 2010).

Lufthansa plans to launch the world’s first scheduled commercial passenger flights
using biofuel in the first half of this year, with an IAE-V2500-powered Airbus
A321(ATW Daily News, Nov. 30, 2010).

 

and

30.8.2011 (The Energy Collective)

 by John Daly

China Takes Recycled Fry-Oil Biofuels To Scale

a few extracts below:

According to a recent article in the People’s Daily, Beijing’s 19 million inhabitants
are seeing the grease used to fry up their dim sum and other delicacies carted
off by eight licensed collectors of used cooking oil, known as “hogwash,” for
recycling into biofuel.

……….

Beijing Hailianghongxin Bioenergy Ltd.’s collected hogwash oil is transported
to a refinery in Gu’an county in Hebei province, owned by Gu’an Zhongde Lihua
Petrochemical Co, the largest hogwash-to-biodiesel processing company in Beijing,
and processed into biodiesel.

Hogwash oil is extracted from rotten pork and peroxided oil, used repeatedly
in frying.

…….

More ominously for China’s illicit hogwash oil trade long term prospects, KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines has recently successfully tested hogwash oil biofuel derivatives
as a possible Jet A-1 “drop in” civilian airplane fuel.

http://theenergycollective.com/staffjam/64194/china-and-biofuels-stir-fry-or-fly?ref=node_other_posts_by

 

 

and more on China and biofuels (2009)

…..

DOE Secretary Chu breaks with Obama over energy policy; aviation turns to China
for biofuels capacity development

13.10.2009

Excerpt:

In related news, Boeing confirmed that it has commenced talks with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and “several Chinese universities” about a potential development
of low-carbon aviation biofuels.
CCTV is reporting that near-term opportunities for collaboration between Boeing
and China’s alternative energy industry
could focus on jatropha development in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces
and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. According to Xinhua News Agency, China is
projecting “13 million hectares of biofuel plantations by 2020,” primarily to
meet increased internal energy needs.

Meanwhile, a meeting of leading biofuels scientists has been called in Beijing
this fall that will provide advice to Chinese ministries preparing for an upcoming
state visit of US President Barack Obama, with energy issues reported to be high
on the agenda for the summit meeting. The US President, whose official policy
calls for strong investments in solar, wind, and biomass as well as electric car
infrastructure, and whose administration is the largest shareholder in the largest
US maker of flex-fuel vehicles (General Motors), will head to China with his energy
message in potential disarray.

Both aviation and biofuels industry leaders have expressed concern that the capacity
to manufacture the advanced, drop-in biofuels along timelines required by the
aviation industry and emissions policy, will require state intervention to provide,
and according to energy lobbyist Curt Rich, “no biofuels project is going to get
a DOE loan guarantee based on the current DOE interpretation of US energy policy.”

at

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/10/13/doe-secretary-chu-breaks-with-obama-over-energy-policy-aviation-turns-to-china-for-biofuels-capacity-development/