Lufthansa hope to partly fuel flights from Oslo airport using biokerosene for one year
Starting this year the Lufthansa Group will be partly fuelling their aircraft at Oslo airport with a bio-kerosene mixture. The group recently became the first airline group to sign this kind of contract with the Norwegian oil company, Statoil Aviation. Beginning in March 2015 and lasting for one year, Statoil will feed 2.5 million gallons of [so called] “sustainably” produced, certified biofuel into the tanks at Oslo airport. The approximately 5,000 flights the Lufthansa Group – which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Germanwings, and Brussels Airlines – operates from the Norwegian capital will then be flying on a biokerosene mixture. Oslo airport claims it is the world’s first large commercial airport to offer continuous provision of biofuel over a long period and to fuel aircraft with bio-kerosene directly from its hydrant system. Lufthansa hope to be able to cut carbon emissions by using a small proportion of biofuel. While the initial bio-fuel deliveries will probably come from used cooking oil, major players in the Norwegian power and forestry industries are now exploring the possibility of forest-based large-scale production of bio-fuel for aviation in a few years. There are considerable environmental problems in using wood for jet fuel.
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Lufthansa to start using biofuel blends commercially
Lufthansa to employ biokerosene mixture on Oslo flights
6.1.2015 (Breaking Travel News)
Starting this year the Lufthansa Group will be fuelling their aircraft at Oslo airport with a biokerosene mixture.
The group recently became the first airline group to sign this kind of contract with the Norwegian oil company, Statoil Aviation.
The company is thus pushing forward along the path of research, testing and use of alternative fuels that it started over four years ago.
Beginning in March 2015 and lasting for one year, Statoil will feed 2.5 million gallons of [so called] “sustainably” produced, certified biofuel into the tanks at Oslo airport.
The approximately 5,000 flights the Lufthansa Group – which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Germanwings, and Brussels Airlines – operates from the
Norwegian capital will then be flying on a biokerosene mixture.
Oslo airport is the world’s first large commercial airport to offer continuous provision of biofuel over a long period and to fuel aircraft with biokerosene directly from its hydrant system.
For the Lufthansa Group, this is the next step from its previous test flights, made as part of the recently concluded burnFAIR project, toward the use of alternative
fuels in regular flight operations.
In 2011, Lufthansa was the first airline in the world to run regular flight operations with a biokerosene mixture by operating an Airbus A321 between Frankfurt and
Hamburg for half a year as part of the project.
The long-term testing was accompanied by detailed emissions measurements and research into production processes and biomass availability.
“Climate-friendly aviation is an important aim of the Lufthansa Group,” explained a statement from the German flag-carrier. “To this end, the group is investing in modern, low-consumption aircraft and is continuously improving the fuel efficiency of its flights. As a supplement to, and as a long-term replacement for kerosene made from crude oil, biofuels offer new perspectives on improving the aviation industry’s carbon footprint.”
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Lots more more background on Statoil and bio-kerosene developments in Norway here –
Oslo airport, Statoil and SkyNRG attempting to promote “sustainable” jet fuels from wood residues & wastes
Oslo airport is hoping to get regular deliveries of biofuel, so it becomes available much of the time. Avinor, which owns the airport, has signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation. The plan is for Statoil to start delivering biofuel in March 2015, with 2,5 million liters in the first year. Biofuel is only ever used as 50% of the fuel mix in any flight. Currently the only biofuel available comes from used cooking oil. However there are plans to explore the possibility of forest-based large-scale production of aviation bio-fuel. But that is still a long way off, especially for biofuel comparable in price to conventional jet kerosene, the price of which has fallen recently. Aviation biofuel proponents are keen to get both production and use up, to get the price down. Whether biomass comes from forestry work, or wood waste, it is very far from sustainable. The nutrients in wood products need to be returned to the soils in which they grew, to maintain fertility. Biofuels are not carbon neutral, as the presumption that all the carbon emitted on burning is rapidly reabsorbed by vegetation is wrong. Regrowing an equivalent sized tree, and sequestering the carbon, in reality could take decades.
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