Biofuels & novel fuels News
Below are links to stories about aviation biofuels.
Obama announces major investment towards developing aviation advanced biofuels sector in the US
Date added: 17 August, 2011
Obama has announced an investment of $510 million over the next 3 years to develop an
industry to develop and produce drop-in advanced aviation and marine biofuels
for the US defence and commercial sectors. Funding will come from the US Depts of Agriculture, Energy and Navy and will be equalled by finance from
the private sector. Without mentioning environmental concerns, the USDA said the partnership aims
to increase energy independence & create jobs.
Click here to view full story...
SWAFEA final report “lays groundwork for the deployment of sustainable aviation biofuels in Europe”
Date added: 1 August, 2011
The Sustainable Way for Alternative Fuels and Energy for Aviation report, submitted
to the EC, gives details of how they propose European aviation can get up to 2%
of biofuels by 2020. They claim "sustainable" biofuel, in huge amounts, can be
sourced. On aviation industry emissions reduction targets, the study finds that stabilisation
of emissions at 2020 levels - using biofuels - would probably take well beyond
2030.and it sees some of the problems.
Click here to view full story...
Thomson Airways’ 50% cooking oil biofuel flight grounded after fuel delivery hitch
Date added: 27 July, 2011
The UK's first commercial flight powered by "sustainable" biofuels has been postponed
after delivery problems. Thomson Airways' flight TOM7424 from Birmingham to Palma was scheduled for 28th July.
However, the airline said the green fuel pilot had been scraped as a delay beyond their control during the transportation of the fuel from the USA
meant the testing process could not be done in time for the flight. Will probably
take place in September.
Click here to view full story...
IUCN and WWF International give their backing to “sustainable” biofuels and their use by the EU
Date added: 25 July, 2011
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and WWF have welcomed
the recognition of the new Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels certification system by the European Commission, for meeting the sustainability criteria of the Renewable
Energy Directive. They believe it is crucial for biofuels to be produced in a
way that is consistent with sustainable resource management, contributing to both
positive economic and social development.
Click here to view full story...
Lufthansa will get its biofuel from Neste Oil, with palm oil likely to be sneaked into the mix
Date added: 22 July, 2011
This is a very worrying article about biofuel Lufthansa will be getting from
Neste Oil, which is well known for using large quantities of palm oil. It appears that though Lufthansa is saying all the suitable greenwash things
about its flights at present, using only camelina, jatropha and animal fats, as
Neste Oil deals largely with palm oil, it is likely that so called "sustainably
sourced" palm oil will get into the mix, and Lufthansa is not bothered about that.
Click here to view full story...
Finnair flies commercial flight Amsterdam to Helsinki on 50% cooking oil
Date added: 21 July, 2011
Finnair has joined KLM and Lufthansa to use blended sustainable jet biofuel on
a commercial scheduled flight.
Both engines of an Airbus A319 were fuelled with a mix of 50% biofuel derived
from used cooking oil and 50% conventional jet fuel. The 1,500km journey between
Amsterdam and Helsinki was the longest scheduled flight so far to use biofuel. Finnair plans to carry out a series of 4 such flights over the coming weeks.
The fuel is from SkyNRG.
Click here to view full story...
Mallee trees to provide biomass for Virgin Australia sustainable aviation biofuel venture
Date added: 14 July, 2011
Virgin Australia is to partner with renewable fuel technology and agriculture
interests to develop a biofuel project. The consortium plans to process a species
of eucalypt tree that can be grown sustainably in many parts of Australia. They
hope a demonstration unit will be operational in 2012 and commercial scale by
2014. A recent report by Australia’sscience agency said Australian aviation could
be using 5% of their fuel as biofuel by 2020, and 40% by 2050.
Click here to view full story...
Theresa Vlliers gives her support to aviation biofuels, including Thomson cooking oil flights
Date added: 12 July, 2011
Welcoming Thomson's announcement it will be using 50% fuel from used cooking
oil (which contains animal fats) and the aviation industry’s drive towards technological
change, UK Aviation Minister Theresa Villiers said sustainable biofuels fuels
had a role to play in efforts to tackle climate change. She wished them well with
the project. On 28th July, Thomson will start flying a plane from Birmingham to
Palma on the new fuel.
Click here to view full story...
Lufthansa A321 partially powered (50%) by biofuel to enter service Friday
Date added: 12 July, 2011
Lufthansa plans start its scheduled biofuel flights Friday, launching a 6-month
trial in which an IAE V2500-powered Airbus A321 will operate on the Frankfurt-Hamburg
route. It will use a 50-50 mix of biofuel and traditional kerosene in one engine, and is due
to operate 8 daily legs between FRA and HAM. LH estimates it will save around
1,500 tons of CO2 emissions over the 6 months - but give no indication how this
figure is obtained.
Click here to view full story...
BioJet to release 1 billion gallons of jet fuel in the USA
Date added: 9 July, 2011
After the recent ASTM International Committee on Petroleum Products and Lubricants'
approval of bio-derived jet fuel for commercial use, USA firm BioJet International said
it will release one billion gallons of renewable jet fuel priced at $2.97 /gallon
to airlines to "aid in the development" of biofuel in the commercial aviation
market. BioJet, through its subsidiaries, owns and controls multiple, very large biofuels
feedstock projects around the world.
Click here to view full story...
