Biofuels & novel fuels News
Below are links to stories about aviation biofuels.
BA and Rolls-Royce to ramp up their biofuel effort
Date added: 11 January, 2011
BA and Rolls-Royce will begin work on validating 10 different alternative fuel
programs, with the hope of completing work on the initiative by early 2012. Last year they launched a new call to fuel suppliers to provide 60,000 litres
of fuel for testing. A similar initiative failed due to a lack of responses, but
this time 17 suppliers say they can meet the criteria. They will conduct a variety
of tests during 2011. BA is also sponsoring Cranfield to work on algal biofuels.
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Hydrogen fuel trial of two Ford Transit vans ready at Stansted
Date added: 8 January, 2011
Stansted Airport plans to power two specially adapted Ford Transit vans with
hydrogen. The airport will be the first UK company to test a new hydrogen refuelling
system (HFuel) and two specially adapted vehicles as part of ITM Power’s nationwide
Hydrogen On Site Trials programme (HOST). The airport hopes it will lower local
emissions. However, unless the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy, the
emissions are merely displaced elsewhere.
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Qantas and Solena on brink of joint venture to make jet fuel from waste food
Date added: 3 January, 2011
In Australia, Qantas (which spends about $3 billion a year on jet fuel) and Solena Group have announced they expect to finalize a partnership in the next 2 weeks to determine the feasibility of a Fischer-Tropsch based biofuels plant in Australia that will produce aviation biofuels from waste food and grass clipping. They to complete a feasibility study for the waste-based aviation fuel plant within a year, with a view to trialling the fuel on aircraft.
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Finnair aims to become a launch customer for commercial airline jet biofuel flights in 2011
Date added: 22 December, 2010
Following the announcement that Lufthansa is set to become the 1st airline to use biofuels on commercial flights, it has emerged that Finnair is also in discussions with the same biofuel supplier, Finland’s Neste Oil, to be the 1st user of "sustainable" jet fuels derived from logging waste. When the first commercial biofuel flights will take place will depend on the availability of biomass and biofuel certification for commercial use. (GreenAir)
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Lufthansa first airline to use biofuel on commercial flights next spring
Date added: 30 November, 2010
In April 2011, Lufthansa is to begin a 6-month trial with an Airbus A321 on scheduled
commercial flights on the Hamburg-Frankfurt route. Pending certification, one of the aircraft's engines will use a 50-50
mix of biofuel and traditional kerosene. The purpose of the project is to conduct
a long term study on the effect of biofuel on engine maintenance and life. Lufthansa
is the first airline to test this fuel over a long period. The Federal Govt is
giving €2.5m for the Lufthansa project.
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Biofuel approval nears, Lufhansa plans service trial in spring 2011 – fuel partly from palm oil
Date added: 29 November, 2010
With the aviation fuels subcommittee of standards-setter ASTM to meet next week to decide on approval of bio-jet fuels, Lufthansa has announced
plans for a 6-month in-service trail of a 50:50 mix of biofuel and conventional
kerosene using an Airbus A321. ASTM has already approved 50% blends of synthetic
paraffinic kerosenes (SPKs) produced from coal, natural gas or biomass using the
Fischer-Tropsch process. The bio-SPKs may be next, by March 2011.
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Brazilian airline TAM flies an Airbus A320 45 minute flight on 50% jatropha biofuel
Date added: 24 November, 2010
On 22 Nov an Airbus A320 powered by CFM56 engines was flown off the coast of
Rio de Janeiro, fuelled by a 50:50 blend of biofuel and conventional aviation
fuel. The 45-minute flight, which was conducted by Brazil’s largest airline TAM, used
biodiesel derived from jatropha seeds in what has been named the first experimental
flight in South America using aviation fuel. The biofuel was processed by UOP
LLC, a Honeywell group member.
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Solena and Rentech to partner on synthetic fuel technology for Europe’s proposed first sustainable jet fuel facility
Date added: 20 November, 2010
Solena Group, which is seeking to build a facility in London to convert waste
biomass feedstock into sustainable jet fuel, has signed a letter of intent with
fellow US company Rentech to negotiate a licensing deal to the use the latter’s
proprietary Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel technology. The GreenSky facility is due to open in 2014 and will produce around 16 million
gallons of jet fuel and nine million gallons of bionaphtha a year when fully operational.
(GreenAir)
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US Navy tests new fuel in MH-60S Seahawk Helicopter. US navy want 50% biofuels by 2020
Date added: 18 November, 2010
Moving closer to achieving the objective of decreasing its need for petroleum-based
fuels, the Navy flew an MH-60S Seahawk on a 50/50 biofuel blend. The helicopter tested a fuel mixture made from the Camelina seed, which is in
the same family of plants as the mustard seed and rapeseed. Camelina - in theory
- needs little water or nitrogen to flourish and can be grown on marginal agricultural
soil. The US military want biofuels for energy security.
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Boeing to test China jatropha biofuel in Chinese airliner in summer 2011
Date added: 19 October, 2010
Boeing, in cooperation with Air China and others, plans to test a commercial-jet biofuel in China produced from locally grown jatropha by the middle of 2011-partly to bolster China’s potential as a biofuel provider. The China demonstration flight, expected to be conducted by May or June next year, would be Boeing’s 6th such demonstration flight using a biofuel. Fuel will be supplied by PetroChina which grows jatropha in southern China for aviation use.
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