Biofuels present investment gold for aviation industry

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-20

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.