Biofuels & novel fuels News
Below are links to stories about aviation biofuels.
United hopes to buy 5 million gallons of biofuel per year from AltAir Fuels – from “non-edible natural oils and agricultural wastes”?
US United Airlines has announced that it has executed a definitive purchase agreement with USA-based AltAir Fuels to buy allegedly "sustainable"advanced biofuels at commercial scale. In the partnership AltAir Fuels will retrofit part of an existing petroleum refinery near Los Angeles to produce some 30 million gallons per year, partly of jet fuel and partly other diesel fuel. United has agreed to buy 5 million gallons of the jet fuel each year, for 3 years, starting in 2014, with the option to buy more. United has agreed a price for the fuel that is competitive with traditional, petroleum-based jet fuel. United says it will use this biofuel on flights from Los Angeles. The refinery will use the Honeywell Green Jet process. All they say about the feedstock is that it will be using "non-edible natural oils [which is probably camelina] and agricultural wastes" but they claim the fuel will have " at least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis" compared to conventional kerosene. Back in 2012 there was no mention of not competing with food crops, and in 2011 there was a flight using Solarzyme fuel of unknown source.
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China Eastern Airlines carries out test flight using palm oil – and is considering more
China Eastern Airlines has conducted a first test flight of a biofuel blend sourced and produced in China. The fuel was produced from used cooking oil and palm oil though one source says the fuel for this flight was just palm oil, as its processing is cheaper than processing used cooking oil. The use of palm oil as jet fuel has serious environmental problems, due to the loss of tropical rainforest to produce palm oil plantations, which leads to high carbon emissions. The destruction of rainforest causes substantial biodiversity loss. The use of palm oil for jet fuel also conflicts with food use of palm oil. Palm oil is an inappropriate fuel for aviation, and more responsible airlines have not used it. For any biofuel to be environmentally sustainable they would need to be produced from feedstocks that have no impact on biodiversity, land and water use - as well as having lower lifetime carbon emissions. The airline says, in one report, that it will begin to fly commercial services on 100% biofuels. Until now biofuels have been used in combination with traditional jet fuel from fossil sources. China Eastern has not yet released a timetable of when the commercial services will begin.
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Heathrow and Gatwick submit their responses on Aviation & Climate Change to Airports Commission
Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports have submitted their responses to the Aviation Commission's discussion paper on Aviation and Climate Change. Both base their aspirations of high growth rates over coming decades on evidence from the industry body "Sustainable Aviation". Not surprisingly, both airports' submissions are attempts to justify the unjustifiable: to claim that emitting huge amounts more carbon dioxide can be achieved with no net emissions, by various probable and improbable means. They hope improvements in efficiency by airlines and air traffic control, as well as improved aircraft design, will cut their emissions. They place unrealistic hopes in "sustainable" biofuels, with Gatwick's submission saying "...by 2050, sustainable fuels could offer between 15 and 24% reduction in CO2 emissions attributable to UK aviation." Gatwick also wants considerable Government support (ie public expense) to develop biofuels for the industry. And both depend to an enormous extent on international agreements through ICAO, and systems for carbon trading that do not currently exist.
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Norwegian aviation industry hopes for large volumes of biojet fuel from timber and logging residues
A report on possible production of aviation biofuel from Norwegian forests has been published. Conducted by Rambøll, it was commissioned by Norwegian airport operator Avinor, along with airlines SAS and Norwegian, and the Federation of Norwegian Aviation Industries. The report concludes that cost-competitive, large-scale production of aviation biofuels might be viable in Norway between 2020 and 2025. There is, of course, an immense resource of timber in Norway, and of logging residues. The report considers two processes - either Fischer-Tropsch + gasification, or the refining of bio-alcohols to Jet A-1 fuel. Norway wants to cut its aviation emissions by 10-15% by 2020-25, which would need some 190-250 million litres of biojet fuel. To produce that amount, there would need to be around 8-10 production plants with an annual output of 50 million litres each. To be profitable the plants would need to have added sales income from biodiesel and bionaphtha byproducts. There are a large number of economic and technological uncertainties about whether this scheme could ever happen, and if it would be financially viable.
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NRDC says if airlines use biofuels they must commit only to those certified to internationally recognised standards
The Americal NRDC (the National Resources Defense Council) has produced a survey on the biofuel use of airlines so far. The NRDC argues that the aviation industry has a responsibility to use biofuels that are certified as sustainable (because the sector’s buying power has the potential to reshape the supply chain) and avoid the use of poorly sourced biofuels that drive deforestation and food insecurity. NRDC asked 22 airlines to respond to its questionnaire and got responses from just 12, which the group describes in a report on its findings as “discouraging”. Of those 12, only two airlines have committed to using Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuel (RSB) certification in their sourcing efforts. Of the perhaps 1 million gallons of biofuel used, or more, research estimated that fewer than 30,000 gallons were deemed sustainable. ie. perhaps 3%. NRDC calls on airlines to publicly commit to source only 100% certified sustainable biofuel by 2015.
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New report from the Oakland Institute sounds alarm on aviation’s biofuel ambitions
A new report from the Oakland Institute, in California, cautions against the aviation industry's goal to reduce its emissions by using biofuels in future. The report warns that this would bring an unprecedented expansion into biofuel production, more than likely in poorer countries, and involve the acceleration of land acquisitions already threatening the lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. The report finds that both the potential environmental impact and toll on human lives has not been adequately factored into assessments and could cause new environmental and human disasters. This must not be allowed to happen though lack of foresight. Currently, biofuel is too scarce and expensive for serious commercial use in planes. To meet current aviation needs--let alone future increases in demand -- it would take 270 million hectares of jatropha, produced on an area roughly the equivalent of one-third of Australia. The new report also looks at the drawbacks of used cooking as a source of commercial aviation fuel, and finds that even diverting all the used cooking oil in the US would keep American planes in the air for less than three days. It is not a serious future option.
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KLM to make one flight per week New York to Amsterdam for 6 months using 25% used cooking oil
KLM has announced that one of its weekly Boeing 777 flights from New York to Amsterdam - for 6 months - will now be made using 25% biofuel made from old cooking oil. [Not clear if that is in one engine or both]. The first such flight was last Thursday on Flight KL642 flight from JFK to Schiphol. The fuel is provided by SkyNRG and the project has been supported by (what does that mean?) a raft of KLM partners, including Schiphol Group, Delta Air Lines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the companies in the KLM's Corporate BioFuel Program. KLM has started marketing its new biofuel flights to corporate customers, so companies like Accenture, Heineken, Nike, and Philips who use the KLM biofuel flights can say they have lower reported carbon emissions. There are only very limited supplies of used cooking oil, which is the only form of biofuel that can so far be regarded as environmentally sustainable. The industry's hopes that it may be able to obtain huge amounts of so called "sustainable" fuels from algae are still years away.
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British Airways pledges to buy Solena “GreenSky London” jet fuel made from London waste for 10 years – site location still not known
British Airways and Solena "GreenSky London" say their project to build a jet biofuel facility in East London is gaining momentum. However, they won’t reveal the location of the plant but say an exclusive option on a site for the facility and consent work has begun, with the aim of having it operational and in production by 2015. BA has confirmed its commitment to purchasing, at “market competitive” prices, the anticipated 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel produced per year for the next 10 years, which equates to around $500 million at today’s price for conventional jet kerosene. BA expects enough of this fuel will be produced to power 2% of its fleet departing from London Airports. GreenSky say it will process 500,000 tonnes of London’s waste into 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel, equating to 1,100 barrels of jet fuel per day (bpd) which is 16 million gallons. It will also process 50,000 tonnes, or 1,100 bpd, of ultra-low sulphur diesel.
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US Senate votes to allow military to buy biofuels even if they cost more than conventional
The US Senate has voted in favor of an amendment to repeal section 313 of the annual Defense appropriations bill - which says the Department of Defense (DOD) buying fuels that cost more than their conventional counterparts. The clauses that prevented the DOD buying expensive fuel were put in by Senator Inhofe. The biofuel industry saw this as an attack on the DOD's policy of buying biofuels, and they and the airlines have worked and lobbied hard to get it reversed. The biofuel industry says over 60 senators went on record supporting biofuels policy, which they believe is a " very good bi-partisan outcome and a strong signal to investors.” Eleven Republican Senators supported the bill, primarily from states with strong interests in agriculture, timber and advanced biofuels. Many Americans support reducing dependence upon foreign oil and strengthening national and economic security via domestic renewable fuels. Especially the military that wants fuel security for massive amounts of fuel.
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Qatar University working on aviation biofuels from single-celled salt tolerant photosynthetic organisms
In Doha, Qatar University has revealed the progress into research on developing biofuels for aviation (timed to coincide with the Doha climate talks - for PR reasons). The Qatar biofuels project is state-backed - the first in the region. The university’s project, in collaboration with Qatar Airways is now into its 3rd year and aims to find a way of producing affordable biofuels which do not rely on the use of valuable arable land and which can be produced efficiently in the harsh climate of Qatar. They have isolated multiple forms of single-celled photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria and microalgae) abundant in the waters of Qatar which grow well in its extreme heat, strong sunlight and highly saline water. They are trying to scale them up, from small test-tubes to water tanks - then extracting the lipids for fuel, while carbohydrate for bioethanol. So far they have made only 1,500 litres but want to expand to 25,000 litres. They hope to expand further.