June 21, 2011, London, UK – Ten airlines
have signed letters of intent to use jet fuel derived from biomass produced by
Solena Fuels in northern California, the Air Transport Association (ATA) says.
American Airlines, United Continental Holdings, Alaska Airlines, FedEx, JetBlue
Airways, Southwest Airlines, US Airways, Air Canada, Frontier Airlines, and
Germany's Lufthansa all intend to use jet produced at Solena's northern
California biomass-to-liquids facility, which the ATA says will produce up to
16 million gallons/year of jet fuel by 2015.
The jet fuel, produced from urban and
agricultural waste, could be used to support airline operations at Oakland, San
Francisco, and San Jose in California. The plant will also produce 14 million
gallons equivalent of other energy products, and the ATA says the entire
project will use up approximately 550,000 tonnes of waste.
With the imminent inclusion of airlines in
the European Union's emissions trading scheme, airlines are keen to find a
cleaner alternative to petroleum-based fuel. Lufthansa is awaiting regulatory
approval to launch a test commercial route using a 50:50 mix of biofuel and
traditional kerosine produced by Finland's Neste, while Solena is running a
year-long feasibility study with Australia's Qantas that could lead to a $300
million commercial aviation biofuel plant in Sydney.
Solena is working with UK-based BA to set
up a sustainable jet fuel plant in London by 2014 to convert landfill-destined
waste into aviation fuel.
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