Boeing and Brazilians link up to push biofuel

Photo / Thinkstock

Boeing and rival Brazilian plane-maker Embraer have teamed up to boost the aviation biofuel industry.

Boeing said the plane-building competitors would perform joint biofuel research, as well as fund and co-ordinate research with Brazilian universities and other institutions.

The research will focus on technology to plug gaps in a supply chain for sustainable aviation biofuel in Brazil, such as feedstock production and processing technologies.

Brazil is one of the world's leading ethanol producers with the fuel from sugar cane introduced into its vehicle fleet widely since the 1970s. The joint venture is the latest in about 30 aviation biofuel initiatives around the world.

While there have been test flights using blends of biofuels and jet fuel, they have not been introduced on a wide scale. Feedstock includes used cooking oil, alga, jatropha and sugar cane with most projects in the research or feasibility stages.

One of the main challenges is introducing biofuel to the overall supply chain.

In 2009 Air New Zealand ran a test flight using a blend of jet fuel and jatropha oil.

Boeing Commercial managing director of environmental strategy and integration Julie Felgar said her company was working aggressively around the world to expand the supply of aviation biofuel and reduce aviation's carbon emissions.

"With our joint biofuel research centre, Boeing and Embraer are making a strong commitment towards a successful, sustainable aviation biofuel industry in Brazil."

When produced sustainably, aviation biofuel emits 50 to 80 per cent lower carbon emissions through its life cycle than petroleum jet fuel, according to Boeing.

Airbus is celebrating 20 years of providing planes for gathering atmospheric scientific data used in climate research.

The Mozaic (Measurement of Ozone by Airbus In-service Aircraft) programme uses seven widebody aircraft (six A340-300s and an A330) equipped with measurement devices flying daily and internationally, with the support of the programme's associated airlines: Lufthansa, China Airlines, Air France, Iberia, Cathay Pacific and Air Namibia.

The data collected, including near real-time data provision for weather prediction, climate and air quality forecasting, are added to a database with free access given to international scientific and policy-making communities.

Measurements have been captured on more than 41,000 commercial flights since 1994.