Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-20
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| A Boeing 777, part of the American Airlines fleet, at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. (Photo/CNS) |
Aircraft
manufacturers Boeing and Airbus are seeing growing business opportunities in
introducing sustainable jet fuels amid global efforts to reduce the carbon
footprint of aviation, reports Guangzhou's 21st Century Business Herald.
The market
for aviation biofuels is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of US
dollars, and two manufacturers are eager to get a headstart by linking supply
and demand by establishing relationships among feedstock growers and producers,
biofuel producers, distributors and airlines.
The race
has already begun, the paper said. On May 19, an Airbus A330-200 from KLM Royal
Dutch Airlines (flight KL767) commenced the longest ever commercial flight by
an Airbus aircraft using sustainable jet fuel. The aircraft used a 20% blend of
sustainable fuel made from used cooking oil, for a 10 hour flight from
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.
According
to Airbus, the flight was the first in a series of around 20 long-haul
commercial flights using an Airbus aircraft as part of the European initiative
called ITAKA (Initiative Towards Sustainable Kerosene for Aviation), which aims
to speed up the commercialization of aviation biofuels in Europe.
The
Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), a government-owned aerospace
manufacturer established to reduce the country's dependence on Boeing and
Airbus, has also sensed the business opportunities presented by biofuels.
The
aviation industry in China consumed some 20 million tonnes of jet fuel every
year, while nearly 30 million tonnes of used cooking oil is available, said
COMAC vice president Shi Jianzhong. From this perspective, China was well-positioned
to tap into the new business, he added.
Current
technology suggests that for each tonne of used cooking oil, 90% can be turned
into biofuel, while about half of that amount could then be used as jet fuel.
Meanwhile, the cost of non-petroleum based fuels is about two to three times
more than traditional fuels, the paper said.
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