Chinese airline aims for biofuel flight this year using jatropha
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.
been focusing on innovation as the core strategy in recent years, setting up three
laboratories in Shanghai, Beijing-based Qinghua University and Qingdao.
Boeing so far, making parts for all series of Boeing aircrafts including the 787
and 747-800.
Biofuels’ Potential to Transform the Global Economy
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.
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.
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.
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.
with Jet A-1 fuel derived from traditional fossil fuel kerosene.
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.
of ethanol, in the case of Brazil derived from sugar cane, in the United States,
produced from corn.
Air China plans transpacific biofuel test flight in 2011
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).
using biofuel in the first half of this year, with an IAE-V2500-powered Airbus
A321(ATW Daily News, Nov. 30, 2010).
China Takes Recycled Fry-Oil Biofuels To Scale
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.
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.
in frying.
Royal Dutch Airlines has recently successfully tested hogwash oil biofuel derivatives
as a possible Jet A-1 “drop in” civilian airplane fuel.
DOE Secretary Chu breaks with Obama over energy policy; aviation turns to China
for biofuels capacity development
for biofuels capacity development
Academy of Sciences and “several Chinese universities” about a potential development
of low-carbon aviation biofuels.
and China’s alternative energy industry
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.
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.
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.”