aviation biofuel

Boeing and Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China have opened a demonstration facility that will turn waste cooking oil into sustainable aviation biofuel. The two companies estimate that 1.8 billion litres of biofuel could be made annually in China from used cooking oil.

“Strong and continuing teamwork between Boeing and COMAC is helping our industry make progress on environmental challenges that no single company or country can solve alone,” said Ian Thomas, president, Boeing China. “By working together for mutual benefit, we’re finding innovative ways to support China’s aviation industry and build a sustainable future.”

Boeing and COMAC are sponsoring the facility, which is called the China-US Aviation Biofuel Pilot Project. It will use a technology developed by Hangzhou Energy & Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. (HEET) to clean contaminants from waste oils and convert it into jet fuel at a rate of 650 litres per day. The project’s goal is to assess the technical feasibility and cost of producing higher volumes of biofuel.

Boeing claims to have completed the world’s first flight using ‘green diesel’, a sustainable biofuel that is widely available and used in ground transportation. The company powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test aircraft with a blend of 15 per cent green diesel and 85 per cent petroleum jet fuel in the left engine.

“Green diesel offers a tremendous opportunity to make sustainable aviation biofuel more available and more affordable for our customers,” said Julie Felgar, managing director of Environmental Strategy and Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We will provide data from several ecoDemonstrator flights to support efforts to approve this fuel for commercial aviation and help meet our industry’s environmental goals.”

Sustainable green diesel is made from vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and waste animal fats. Boeing previously found that this fuel is chemically similar to HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) aviation biofuel approved in 2011. Green diesel is chemically distinct and a different fuel product than biodiesel, which is also used in ground transportation.